When Science Labs Explode
by Ravenwolf2
Summary: When the GATE kids' science lab explodes, they get transferred to a mysterious boarding school in Britain. Who'd have thought that the school was Hogwarts? And where's Voldemort? Shouldn't he be off somewhere wreaking havoc?
1. The Explosion

When Science Labs Explode  
  
Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else.  
  
We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!  
  
A/N: I wrote this with Ella Moon, so if you recognize her style of writing or word usage or whatever, then that'll be why. This is also my very first time posting so if things are a little screwed, I apologize. I'M LEARNING!!!  
  
Chapter 1  
  
School was starting again. As they got off their buses late, all the GATE kids walked into their school, Ransom Jr. High. They were mumbling things like:  
  
"Lousy bus…"  
  
"Wonder if Miss Andrews came this year?"  
  
"I hate this school!"  
  
"Do we have to eat on the floor again?"  
  
"Are you buying lunch?", and the normal things fourteen-year-olds talk about when coming back to school. Some hugged. Others joked. Sucrose and Mike stole Kailie's pencil case, and a great chase ensued. They finally all settled down in Mrs. Seand's class.  
  
"OK! Hi, guys, welcome back!" she said. She then proceeded to hand out schedules, and explain the Math curriculum. After an hour and seventeen minutes the bell rang and they moved over to Mrs. Tailiander's class, for their Science orientation. After the confirmation of chemistry later on, but Consumer Product Testing ("not again!"), it was off to options. Kaitlyn headed to Band. Lily was dancing because she didn't have Outdoor Ed. Ariadne and Kailie went off to drama. Airinne went to computers with Joy. Thirty-four minutes later they walked into their Humanities class. It had been Ms. Miller's last year, and they were terrified she'd decided to teach GATE. She was horrible, from what they'd seen. But, as they walked in, they all swarmed to the teacher's desk. In the room that now was covered with posters and calligraphic alphabets Miss Andrews was sitting at the desk. This was going to be better than last year. Someone to gripe with, thought mostly everyone. Someone to gab about Harry Potter with, thought Kaitlyn. Someone to talk to, thought Ally. Someone to rave about legends and mythology with, thought Lily. And, they all thought, a great Humanities teacher.  
  
After an all-too-short thirty-four minutes, all the class went back to homeroom. At three the bell rang. Everyone got on the buses and went home.  
  
The next turning point of the lives of these - I won't call them normal - grade nines, was in science sometime in late October or early November. They were doing a lab in Chemistry, and Airinne, who had always wanted to blow something up, went a little too overboard with a chemical. KABOOM! It rang down the halls. The roof was blown right off the top of the science lab. 9-1-1 was called immediately. When it came, they found a fuming Ms. Tailiander but no one was hurt. Actually, when the dust had cleared, Airinne had exclaimed "cool!", with her face covered in soot.  
  
All the kids in the science class (all of GATE grade nine) were rushed to the hospital, but no one was harmed, although they did have to stay for a few days before they were let out. It was pretty hard to believe they'd all come out without a scratch.  
  
When they were finally let out, though, they weren't allowed back at Ransom. All the other GATE kids were allowed to stay, but GATE grade nine would just have to find another school. But by then, the story of the terrible class who blew science labs sky-high had circulated to all the schools. They hadn't a school to go to. So, the GATE Parent Association did the good thing and started looking for schools outside of their hometown. They finally found a school. But - it was in Britain! There didn't seem to be any schools in Canada (or even the U.S.) that would take these poor outcast kids. A school in England - no one seemed to be able to obtain its name - was willing to take the kids. But it was a boarding school - and in England. The GATE Parent Association told the kids to look at it as an amazing opportunity! For only 2000 dollars to make sure about plane fare per person, and a lot of donated funds from the new school and the GATE Parent Association, all thirty kids got first class tickets to London, England! They were all very excited - and, anyway, where else were they supposed to go?  
  
On their last day at home, Miss Andrews told them all something they were overjoyed to hear:  
  
"I'm coming with you, you know," she said, beaming.  
  
"WHAT?!" was the general cry resounded through the room. Included was the odd "SWEET!" and "WOO HOO!"  
  
"I'm coming. You guys can watch over me - I hear they have a really good nurse there, and - would I ever leave you?"  
  
All the kids grinned from ear-to-ear. They would be able to keep Miss Andrews fed - it was common knowledge she'd been very sick two years before. They ended their time at home with a big party. The next day, at three in the morning, they brought all their bags to the airport. They had quite a few. Kaitlyn's mom promised to send her some Ventolin every month, for her asthma. She toted her bags onto the conveyor belt, laughing with Sally, Fiona, Airinne, Lily, Kailie, Siri and most of the other girls. After that they lugged their carry-ons over to the waiting area and sat beside Miss Andrews. Kaitlyn and Miss Andrews had just gotten to discussing about how sad it was that Cedric had passed away when the lady at the desk told them that it was time for first class, children traveling alone, and families traveling with small children to board. They got to their seats. Kaitlyn had a window seat. Beside her were Kailie, and then Fiona. Across the aisle from Fiona were Airinne, Siri and Lily (who had fought over the window seat until Lily snarled and "tried" to claw the other two's eyes out. She was now triumphantly seated next to the window), in front were Bruce, Jody and Joy, across from them was Tarn, whose first name was Rick. He was trying to strike up a conversation with Joy, asking if she was his friend. She unendingly answered "maybe".  
  
Then there were Sally and Sucrose. Mike was near the back of First Class. The two Kirks were very far apart. One was by Sucrose and the other was by himself (as usual). Norbert C. was reading Star Trek, and Norbert S. was using his laptop. So, erm... normal (normal for them, naturally. They're never normal in the normal way). So GATE, at any rate.  
  
Hours later they arrived at the airport, after watching Forrest Gump in English. Kaitlyn had seen it in French, but was glad to hear it pronounced "Forrest Gump" rather than "Je m'appelle Forrest, Forrest Gooump". There were some people at the gate after they came out of customs, looking uncomfortable, that had a sign that said "Gifted and Talented Education" on it. They went over there.  
  
"Erm… hullo… We're from - from your new school… we're the prefects…" said some kids. Their accent was music to Kaitlyn's ears.  
  
"Prefects…?" asked Bart.  
  
"They're like hall monitor people," answered Byron.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Um… so… you wanna come?"  
  
"What a stupid question, Edward! Of course they want to! Why else would they be here? And you call yourself a Ravenclaw!" one hissed at the other. This did not help the situation at all, it simply made Edward feel even more awkward. Not to mention stupidly idiotic.  
  
"We've got some cars… lots… um… I guess you need your trunks then?"  
  
"Trunks…?"  
  
"We've got suitcases…"  
  
"Well… Do you need to get them?" Another stupid question. Apparently Edward realized this because he turned bright red directly afterwards.  
  
"Um… yeah… well… my ticket says carousel four…"  
  
"Ok…"  
  
"Should be right over here…"  
  
With that they all walked off towards carousel four. When they all had all their baggage and had it on carts (it took rather a while), they went out to the cars. Limousines. All along a road. Someone whistled. (No one could figure out why they needed a whole row.)  
  
"Wow. We're just us… cool limos!"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
They all got a limo with their friends and drove off into the night. Well, actually it was more like late afternoon. But, oh well. Night sounds more dramatic. 


	2. Introductions

When Science Labs Explode  
  
Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else.  
  
We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!  
  
A/N: I wrote this with Ella Moon, so if you recognize her style of writing or word usage or whatever, then that'll be why. This is also my very first time posting so if things are a little screwed, I apologize. I'M LEARNING!!!  
  
  
  
Chapter Two  
  
It was a very long time before they got to where they were going. When they stepped out of the limos, being told their bags would be brought later, they looked up at their new school.  
  
"Welcome to Hogwarts!" a prefect said. There was a faint thump as Kaitlyn fainted.  
  
When she woke up on the ground a few seconds later she stood up.  
  
"I'm fine…" she said. No one questioned her, all the GATE kids looked like they were about to faint themselves, but the prefects looked rather confused.  
  
"What, in the name of the Philosopher's Stone has gotten into them?" asked one prefect of another.  
  
"Got me, Sally-Ann," answered Edward. He was happy to say something not supremely stupid for once.  
  
"Um… yes… well… maybe we should go in?" said Miss Andrews, looking rather flustered herself.  
  
"Yeah… you'll be sorted… there's a feast to welcome you…" said Sally-Ann, and led them into the hall.  
  
"Wow, we get a feast!" said Bruce. "Of course, I deserve it."  
  
"Uh-huh, yeah, sure Bruce…" said Ally, proceeding to the doors of the great hall. They walked in completely and totally silent. (For once)  
  
"Wow - look, it really is enchanted!" mused Kaitlyn, looking up at the ceiling, commenting to Ally.  
  
"Oh! It's so cool!" She said, in her normal rapturous voice. (She had a voice that always seemed to bubble with rapture.)  
  
"Ah… hello, children!" said Dumbledore to the wondrous (they were full of wonder, not wonders themselves) GATE kids. "Here you are! We've been waiting! We're so glad we could take you - and, Miss Merchell, we won't have to worry about your blowing up the science lab here!" (Airinne blushed) "So, if you'd all line up, let us begin the sorting!"  
  
All the GATE kids lined up at the top of the hall, in front of the teachers' table. The shabby old Sorting Hat was brought out.  
  
"You will be sorted into your house. You will attend classes with your house, sleep in your house dorm, and eat at your house table," explained Professor McGonagall, and stepped aside. Kaitlyn, Ally, Lily, Siri, and most people knew what to expect now. Kaitlyn was shaking, she was so excited. She stared at the hat.  
  
"Oh, many years ago, working at my post,  
  
For Gryffindor and Slytherin and Hufflepuff, I boast,  
  
I do my job with pride,  
  
I do it all the time!  
  
The second time this year it is I've had to sing a rhyme!  
  
So…  
  
If you'll oblige me and sit down,  
  
Upon this handsome stool,  
  
I can promise you, you won't look like a fool!  
  
I tell you where your heart belongs,  
  
You sit and listen rapt,  
  
And while I sing my merry songs,  
  
The others just relax!!!  
  
I may decide,  
  
You do divide,  
  
Into a Hufflepuff,  
  
Where you will be so happy,  
  
Where others do your stuff,  
  
There they are so caring and,  
  
Willing to lend a hand,  
  
And loyal to a fault I'm told,  
  
That's where Hufflepuff stands!  
  
Or maybe you're a Gryffindor,  
  
A brave and fearless knight,  
  
Who always strives and tries and tries  
  
Just to do what's right!  
  
There they will do anything,  
  
For what they want to do,  
  
And if you don't believe me, talk to one or two!  
  
Or possibly in Ravenclaw,  
  
You'll be most at home!  
  
Where they can toil  
  
Over books and moil  
  
For knowledge to achieve!  
  
And there they know just who they are,  
  
And where they're going to,  
  
They are so smart, so knowledgeable,  
  
Maybe just like you!  
  
But perhaps, when done my math,  
  
I'll make a different choice!  
  
And send you in to Slytherin to  
  
Others who are moist - er…  
  
And when you are in Slytherin,  
  
You'll know just what to do,  
  
The people there do what they want  
  
To get to where they do!!!  
  
They're in a class, all of their own,  
  
And not to be messed with!  
  
But if you are a Slytherin, that's what will fit you best!  
  
So come along,  
  
And put me on your head,  
  
And when you take me off,  
  
I know you won't be dead!  
  
Because, although I'm just a hat,  
  
A hat that by and by,  
  
Will know each Hogwarts student,  
  
From their heart unto their hide!"  
  
"Do you think the pressure got to him?" asked Kaitlyn of Lily.  
  
"No," she answered. (In a sarcastic tone.)  
  
"Now, let's begin the sorting. Aryst, Ayter!" McGonagall yelled. Several GATE kids winced and gingerly put their hands over their ears. (They were being hypocritical; thinking that McGonagall was loud.) The sorting went on… and on…  
  
"Gainstein, Kaitlyn," Kaitlyn walked up and scanned the crowd. She saw Cho Chang at the Ravenclaw table. Almost as she had imagined her. Then she saw the Gryffindor table. Hermione, with her bushy, almost curly hair. And then Harry. He looked so - sad. Small wonder, Kait thought. She plopped the hat onto her head.  
  
"Ahhh, hello, Kaitlyn! You'll make a great witch, you know. {Kaitlyn almost fell off the stool} I think you'll do best in… hmm… some Gryffindor qualities… Yes… and you're nice and loyal… A good, stable sprinkling of Slytherin, but you'd do horribly there… oh, and I know you think you're a Muggle, but just wait, Kait, and you'll see… so… all things considered, I think you'd do really well in RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted the last word to the whole room. Shaking and trembling, she went to the Ravenclaw table, sidling into a free space beside Cho. Sally came and joined her almost right away.  
  
"Did the hat tell you that you were a witch?" Sally asked Kait.  
  
"Yeah - but we're not… we're Muggles… we're only here `cause Airinne blew up the science lab…"  
  
"Creepy… wonder if anyone else is gonna be a Ravenclaw?" said Sally.  
  
"Doesn't look like anyone nice. Joy's in Hufflepuff, Melanie, Fiona, and Kailie are in Gryffindor… along with Jody. So… doesn't look like anyone… anyone nice, at any rate. `Cept Lily…" said Amy.  
  
"Yeah," said Kait, as Lily sat across from her, cocked her head to one side, and banged on the side facing the ceiling and grimaced. "Stupid hat… why the hell did it have to yell so freaking loud?" she wondered. When the sorting ended, the feast began. There was a sprinkling of "ooo"s and "ahh"s when the food appeared (although Lily couldn't taste WHY) from the GATE kids, but most expected that. When the feast was over, everyone bursting, all the GATE kids were told to go to their common rooms with the rest, and that their classes would be explained the next day. Kaitlyn, Sally, Amy and Lily went with their prefect. They stopped beside a tapestry of a hole in the ground covering a door, big enough for them to fit through.  
  
"Harry Potter," said the prefect, and the door swung open.  
  
"Who made up that password?" asked Lily.  
  
"Some besotted, idiotic prefect, that's my guess," answered Kait. Lily nodded. They all walked into the common room. It was cozy, a big room with tapestries on the walls and hardwood flooring. There were bookshelves in a corner and armchairs. In another there were some tables, with normal chairs. All the fabric was blue, and little carved eagles were everywhere.  
  
"Well, see that corner there?" the prefect asked.  
  
"Yeah," Lily said. (they weren't total idiots)  
  
"Well that door behind the gathered tapestry is the way to the girls' dorms. There's beds and trunks for you in the fourth year room,"  
  
"`K." they said, (while muttering, "Duh, you could've just mentioned that in the first place…") and went up to their dorm to check it out. There were five beds, just like in Harry's dorm (they knew it, naturally. They'd read the books), except all hung in blue. A bathroom was off to a side through a carved door. The ceiling was domed and carved stone, and the walls were hung all nicely. They found their suitcases on fancy carved trunks at the end of three beds.  
  
"Well, this is nice! Shall we go back down?" asked Kaitlyn.  
  
"Yeah, sure whatever."  
  
"Ok. Let's go." They walked down the stairs to the common room, and sat down by the fire. Kaitlyn walked over to Cho, after a mental battle in her head.  
  
"Hi Cho," she said  
  
"How do you know my name?" asked Cho.  
  
"Um… musta heard it around… ya know?"  
  
"Oh. OK… What's your name?"  
  
"Kaitlyn"  
  
"Hi Kaitlyn."  
  
"Hi." There was a long pause for a moment, then Kaitlyn spoke up.  
  
"So…" she said.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"How's your year been so far? Voldie pop up yet?"  
  
"Voldie…? Oh! You said - well - you almost said You-Know-Who's name!"  
  
"Oh… yeah… nasty habit of mine… heh, heh… he's not a real threat to me… not real… not part of my nightmares…"  
  
"Um… no, he hasn't… thank goodness… and how can he not be a threat? He'd kill us all!"  
  
"Um… well, I never believed he was real…"  
  
"Never… you must be crazy."  
  
"No… OK, yeah, I am crazy."  
  
"Er… OK…" Cho looked somewhat perplexed.  
  
"So… where's Snape?"  
  
"How do you know about Snape?"  
  
"Um… well… I just asked who he was… really seems to hate Ha - that kid with the funky scar…"  
  
"Um… he wasn't here…"  
  
"Wasn't he! Oh…" Kait mentally gave herself a severe scolding.  
  
"No. He's gotten the year off. But he's shown up twice already, and left again."  
  
"So who's potions teacher?" It seemed to slip Cho's mind to wonder how a Muggle knew about wizarding classes. That was mainly because she was really surprised by who the Potions Master was, and even though it was November, she was still very excited when talking about the subject.  
  
"Black! Black! We all thought Dumbledore had gone potty. But he doesn't seem so bad… Dumbledore's made a break from the ministry… there are a lot less students here this year… some parents pulled their kids when they found out… but my parents thought Dumbledore was right - he's Dumbledore - so I stayed."  
  
"Cool! Good thing too."  
  
"How would you know anything about it?"  
  
"Um… I read the Daily Prophet to keep up… so I wouldn't be behind in wizard news… even though I'm a Muggle…"  
  
"Oh…" Cho felt bewildered.  
  
"Hey, Cho, promise me something, will ya? I have my ways of knowing what's been happening at Hogwarts… particularly about Harry Potter, from the beginning of his first year to the end of last year… and... He'd probably hate me if he knew I told you this, since I'm not his friend yet… so, um…" she quickly made up her mind. "He's got a horrible crush on you, Cho, and could you please ask him out this year? It'd make him happy, and well, he'll need it, even though - heh, never mind, but still… do it for me, please, or for Harry?" blurted Kait. She wasn't at all used to talking to strangers openly, but she kept telling herself Cho wasn't a stranger.  
  
"Er… OK, yeah… he asked me to the Yule Ball last year... but I was going with…" here she broke into sobs.  
  
"Oh! I'm so sorry! Hey, Lily, Sally, Amy, get over here," Kait said, happy for a diversion so she could retrieve her foot from her esophagus, nodding her head towards the weeping Cho.  
  
"Oh! Yeah, sure!" they came over, and they all sat with Cho, helping her get through the whole Cedric ordeal. You see, Cedric had died the previous year, when he had been dating Cho. It had been very traumatic for the whole school, but Harry and Cho mostly. It seemed to slip Cho's mind to ask how they knew.  
  
"Sorry…"  
  
"It's OK, what would we expect? I'm sorry I brought it up…"  
  
"It's alright. Thank you,"  
  
"Welcome," said Kait, and the five of them tentatively walked away from Cho. Just then there was a knock at the door. Siri, Kailie and Airinne stood at the door. A prefect was giving them trouble, as they weren't Ravenclaws.  
  
"We just wanna see our friends," they protested, and they (the aforementioned friends) came over.  
  
"Hey guys!"  
  
"C'mere!" the three at the door said. They stepped out of the common room, and into the corridor.  
  
"Where are we going?" Sally asked.  
  
"To our common room," Kailie answered.  
  
"Ahhh… but won't your prefect take off points?"  
  
"Ha! Our prefects are Hermione, Harry, Fred and George! Never!"  
  
"Fred and George are prefects?!" (This came from the open-mouthed Kait.)  
  
"Yeah, they let us do anything, they're trying to make McGonagall mad enough to make them stop being prefects. We call them prefects all the time, it makes them so mad!"  
  
"Ha ha!"  
  
"Yeah, it's a laugh riot."  
  
They finally arrived at the Gryffindor entrance.  
  
"Hey, Miss Fat Lady," said Kait. "You're cool!"  
  
"Why, thank you, dearie," replied the Fat Lady who looked puzzled, but she took the comment as a compliment. You never knew with Americans. (CANADIANS!!! That's what they were, {of course} but what would a British painting know anyway?)  
  
"Plug your ears!"  
  
"OK" the five Ravenclaws plugged their ears.  
  
"Pig zits!" whispered Kailie to the Fat Lady, who swung open and let them in. Kait loved the Gryffindor common room. She saw everyone. She felt like she was coming home.  
  
"Hi!" she said to everyone (they all looked at her funny, since they had never seen her before in their lives, but she didn't notice. Although she did feel really brave talking to "fictional characters"). To Fred and George she also asked if she could maybe have a Canary Cream, although she was shaking as she said it and Siri and Airinne were holding her in place. She asked Lee how Quidditch was going, and Neville if he could teach her some Herbology. She talked to Seamus about how she thought being a half- and-half you get the best of both worlds (she was blushing almost as bad as Ron, but this was true, and she had to say it. And despite what anyone might think, no she did not like Seamus) (not in that way, at any rate). She just started talking to Ginny about everything… they were the same age… and, after a whispered conversation with the other GATE gals, they hauled Harry, Ron and Hermione out of the common room and told them to help find an empty classroom. All together they could do that, and soon they were all in the empty charms classroom.  
  
"Why - why did you take us here?" asked a rather scared Hermione. Harry was stifling laughs, and Ron was bent double.  
  
"Hi! We've always wanted to meet you - especially Kait, there, a real fan," said Siri, and she was whapped upside the head by Kait at the last line.  
  
"Actually, Harry"  
  
"And Ron and Hermione!" said Kristin.  
  
"We've got to tell you something rather important. We want you to know that we know. I don't think you'll want to know where we get our info, but it's not from Voldemort, so don't worry. I should be getting my next report on Hogwarts some time in December. (Lousy Canada Post…) Anyway, Harry, we know," said Kait, in a serious voice.  
  
"What - what do you know?"  
  
"All your secrets," said Airinne, laughing.  
  
"Shut up! This is serious! Voldie's gonna be back! Hopefully we'll get the giants, but he's already got the dementors! Harry has to know! He didn't (I don't know why) catch what Dumbledore told everyone to do, and he has to know!" Kait had a stern look on her face. The three fifteen-year- olds stood there in amazement.  
  
"How much do you know?"  
  
"Oh, Harry, everything! We know about Quirrell, and your parents, and about Sirius, and about Draco, and Lucius, and Moon and Nott, and McNair and Beaky and Fluffy," at this point Lily (who had been casually leaning against a wall) snorted and then subsided into quiet snickers. This earned her a dirty look from Kaitlyn as well as several funny ones from Harry, Ron and Hermione. "…and Norbert" Lily's face lit up at the mention of the baby dragon, but no one noticed. "and the skrewts, and we know all about the tasks. We know who helped you, we even know about Myrtle's spying on you, and how horribly red you turned, and we know about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and TMR -" when she saw the blank looks she was getting she exclaimed, "oh!" and then hastily added "Tom Marvolo Riddle. And Moody (both of them) and the Crouches. And Poncho and Kilt, and the Pensieve, and Rita, and Remus, Peter," (whence she made fists) "Sirius, and James, and the cloak, and the Whomping Willow. And Arthur's - Mr. Weasley's Ford Anglia, and Floo Powder, and Borgin and Burkes, and the Dursleys. And Ton Tongue Toffees, and Fizzing Whizzbees, and how Filch is a squib - we even know about Neville, and I brought along a complete account of what happened at the Riddle Graveyard," here her friends looked at her funny. "and I know how Cedric died, and also about Neville! We know EVERYTHING!!!" Kait was almost in tears. Harry, in the meantime, was trying to work out who everyone was with their first names. Which he promptly forgot ten minutes later.  
  
"How do you know - oh yeah, you won't tell… oh… alright, who knows?"  
  
"Mostly everyone, Harry."  
  
"Who knows the most?"  
  
"Me, Harry," answered Kait.  
  
"She's the resident expert," said Lily. Kait smiled dopily.  
  
"Ok, well, we'll have to talk… in the meantime, tell NO ONE!"  
  
"Kind of a duh thing there!" said Airinne.  
  
"What? Oh. OK, can we go now?"  
  
"Yeah. Bye." They all walked out of the classroom and to their common rooms.  
  
"Well, you certainly told all, didn't you?" asked Lily. Kait grinned impishly.  
  
"Nope. I know more than that,"  
  
"Of course. You do know that you're hopeless, right?"  
  
"And proud of it!"  
  
"My god."  
  
They eventually split up and went to their respective common rooms. Sally, Amy, and Lily fell asleep right away, but Kait was much too excited to even think of sleep. She went down into the common room and read all she could (specifically, tons of the books in the common room, and she brushed up on her details from her favorite books). 


	3. First Sign of Magic

When Science Labs Explode  
  
Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else.  
  
We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!  
  
A/N: I wrote this with Ella Moon, so if you recognize her style of writing or word usage or whatever, then that'll be why. This is also my very first time posting so if things are a little screwed, I apologize. I'M LEARNING!!!  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The next day everyone went down for breakfast. The GATEs sat at the Gryffindor table. When asked why they weren't at their own tables, they said they wanted to be with their friends, and you could take your tables and put `em where the sun don't shine. At the other end of the table, George waved his hand in front of Fred's eyes.  
  
"Yoo-hoo! Anybody home?" he asked.  
  
"Just… thinking… I think I know why Dad likes Muggles so much," Fred answered.  
  
"What? Why are you smiling?" George eyed the slight smile Fred wore suspiciously.  
  
"Don't you think she's hot?" Fred answered, and pointed toward Siri.  
  
"Um… no, not really. But she is hot," he pointed to Fiona. Fred eyed his brother warily, wondering if insanity was contagious. He shrugged and said, "See what I mean? Now I know why Dad loves Muggles so much."  
  
"Uh-huh," (Lily and Kaitlyn happened to glance down the table at that particular point in time and saw the discussion going on between Fred and George. They also noted the sappy looks and goofy smiles on the twins' faces. They glanced at each other and burst out laughing)  
  
Harry started to laugh. He stopped when he realized that Ron was not participating in the hilarity. "Ron?" Harry waved a hand in front of his friend's face. "Hellooo, Ron? Earth to Ron, come in Ron!"  
  
"Huh?" Ron blinked and looked at Harry. "What?"  
  
"Is there something wrong with you?" Harry said, having just noticed that Ron was staring at some blonde GATE girl and sighing (naturally, from behind, as she was talking to someone beside her and therefore facing away from Harry, he didn't recognize her as Kaitlyn Gainstein, the freak who knew a lot about him. And Ron. And everyone else).  
  
"Uh, nooo…" Ron turned a very interesting shade of red and concentrated on his breakfast, which was already cold. Harry didn't believe him, but hey, what can you do with Ron when he's acting like this? Harry remembered Ron's last crush - split between Hermione (Harry had finally, over the summer, realized why Ron had disliked Krum so much) and Fleur, he'd been immovable.  
  
At the Ravenclaw table as well eyes were turning towards the new girls. Terry Boot was sighing over Lily, (who, with Kait, turned blind when it came to boys looking at them) who was laughing her head off at Siri's Darth Vader impressions (*khhh* Luke, I'm choking on my own mucus *khhh*). In the meantime, Terry's friends either gave him funny looks or were ignoring him, seeing as they were doing the same, but over different girls. They really seemed to finally open their eyes to the girls, possibly because there were some new and different ones, which reminded them about the ones that they'd "grown up" with. Even at the Slytherin table, Pansy Parkinson's eyes strayed to Kirk T. The GATE kids were certainly becoming popular. Cupid (if you were there you might just have been able to see him flitting about across the sky-blue ceiling. Fiona noticed him, and heaved her sighs toward the teachers' table) was having something of a field day, although McGonagall was heard later accusing Dumbledore of setting him loose. Breakfast was truly enjoyable (despite the fact that Lily {and Siri, but she did that to all food except for Amerigonas} had eyed it suspiciously, and poked at it with her fork), though somewhat loud. Later they all went off to their classes. The GATE kids were told to go to the South Tower.  
  
Many minutes of trudging up staircase after staircase, they finally got to the top of the South Tower, and went into the top. It was like a cozy living room, but with more tables. It was actually remarkably like Trelawney's room, but less stuffy and more Miss Andrews-ey.  
  
"Hey, guys," Miss Andrews said. "OK, today is basically just getting you settled in at Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore should be along any minute. Until then, you guys can talk."  
  
Everyone started talking amongst themselves. Fiona was going on about Sirius Black, whom she seemed to have an insane crush on. Kait, Sally, and everyone else were trying to hold back laughs.  
  
"You know, if he likes you back before five years from now, he'd be a pedophile," answered Ariadne (but she couldn't talk, she still had her heart set on a Norwegian murderer). They stopped short, however, when Siri told them to shut up (they didn't want her to eat them).  
  
"Look what I've got," she said, and pulled a wand from her bag.  
  
"Whose is it? Where did you get it? Can I try it?" asked Kait, her eyes aglow.  
  
"I found it in the common room. I dunno whose it is. I was saving it for you to try," (there was a gasp from the crowd. When had Siri been so generous?) "so here you go."  
  
Kait picked up the wand gingerly. "Which spell should I use?"  
  
"Lumos?"  
  
"Alhomora?"  
  
"Wingardium Leviosa?"  
  
"Well… I'd do Accio… but Lumos sounds easiest… so here we go…" she turned away from the wand so she could talk to Lily behind her. "Lumos! Well, it's not like it…" she trailed when she heard a gasp, and slowly turned to face the wand. The top was casting a warm glow over the table, accenting all the awed looks of those who were watching. Kait dropped the wand as if it had burned her. After swallowing, she picked it up again.  
  
"Nox," she said, in a disembodied voice. The tip of the wand dimmed and went out. Kait just stared for a second.  
  
"Miss Andrews! Look! Look at Kait!" yelled Stephanie over their heads. Miss Andrews came towards the table.  
  
"Yes?" she asked.  
  
"I… I did… Lumos… and… it…."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'll… show you. OK, here we go. Lumos!" The wand tip lit up again. "And… Nox!" And the wand went out. At precisely that moment, Professor Dumbledore strode into the room.  
  
"I say, what's all the commotion?" The girls glanced up at Dumbledore, then Kaitlyn frantically stuck the wand back in Siri's bag.  
  
"Er, nothing, sir," said Kait, who was already starting to pick up the English terminology.  
  
"Albus, I think… I think these kids should be changing classes," said Miss Andrews.  
  
"Do you…?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
"Yes. Kaitlyn here seems to have done some… done some… magic." She looked rather pale.  
  
"Did she?" asked Dumbledore, raising an eyebrow. "Kaitlyn, may I see it?"  
  
"Uh… yeah, sure, sir." She grabbed the wand from Siri's backpack.  
  
"Where did you get the wand?"  
  
"Uh… someone found it."  
  
"I see. Continue." His eyes were twinkling merrily. Kait warily lit the wand. And put it out again.  
  
"Can anyone else...?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"I don't think they've tried…"  
  
"Do you want to?" Dumbledore asked the class. A deafening "YES!!!" followed, accompanied by a resounding "DUH!". The wand was slowly passed from person to person. They all, in time, managed to make the wand light up. Lily and Siri and Sally and Ariadne and Ally and others also managed it on the first try, and Kailie, as amazed as Kaitlyn, did the same. She was shaking when she passed it on.  
  
"I agree. They do need to change classes. I think some tests to see where they are would be good," said Dumbledore, his eyes still twinkling wildly.  
  
"But how are we supposed to know anything? No one bothered to teach us, or anything like that," complained Amy.  
  
"You're right. Alright, let's start you off in first year. You're supposed to be gifted, so the teachers will allow you to progress as fast as you can. We'll see where you are at the end of the second term, alright?" Dumbledore, of course, said that, to nods, and OKs. Kait's eyes were shining almost as bright as Dumbledore's.  
  
"I regret to say all the teachers are in classes at the moment. So today is a free day for you to wander about the castle as you wish. Also, we did order uniforms and supplies for all of you, they're on your chests now," Dumbledore said, and (although no one knew why he bothered) bowed himself out. Kait sat down with a 'poof!' on a poof. She looked rather stunned. But, as Lily thought, as she too plopped down, so did everyone. This was - naturally - hardly surprising.  
  
Minutes passed, and Sally stood up. "Let's go see our stuff, guys," she said, and tore out of the classroom. Miss Andrews waved slightly - they were allowed, after all. Most of the girls trailed out after her.  
  
"Ooh, I wonder how I look in the robes! Probably fat," remarked the slender Fiona.  
  
"YOU ARE NOT FAT," everyone else screamed at her. The argument went on a while, but Fiona was silenced - if not convinced - by a few threats of "siccing" Kids Help Phone - or the wizard version of it - on her. The group slowly dwindled as the girls went to their common rooms. The Ravenclaws left the Hufflepuffs (none of the girls were in Slytherin anyway, although that option had been offered to Lily, who had turned it down), and trudged up to their own common room, which was in a tower near the center of the many-turreted Hogwarts Castle. Huffing, puffing, and grumbling about stairs (Ransom was a single floor school, and they were out of shape), they panted "Harry Potter" to the door and shuffled in. After lazing in the common room to catch their breath, they made their way up to their dormitory, the right-hand fourth year girls' dorm (there were five already in their dorm and five in the other). They left Suzy's bed untouched (Suzy was the only non-GATE in the dorm), and started rifling through the bags on their own. Kait grabbed her robes and scrambled to try them on, whereas Lily was much more interested in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Professor Fuzzwaddlebey's Exact Guide, Compendium, and Companion to All the Creatures You Don't Want to Meet in a Dark Alley (and Some You Do). (Lily was planning on taking Care of Magical Creatures, and of course Dumbledore had known.) Sally eventually also tried her robes on, and Kait was fiddling with her quills, finished inspecting her robes, but not bothering to take them off.  
  
"Well, I have to get used to them, eh," was her explanation. (However, Lily scorned to touch, or even so much as glance at, her robes. Her explanation was that she hated skirts and dresses, always would, and pants were just fine for her, thank you very much) A few minutes later, finished with her bag, Kait whined, "I want my wand. I wonder when Dumbledore'll take us to buy them?"  
  
"Me too. That sounds so cool. I hope soon," said Sally.  
  
"I want to start learning something!" exclaimed Amy exasperatedly.  
  
"I want to learn hexes. Maybe I won't need my claws… no, I'd miss them too much," said Lily, looking slightly mournful.  
  
Kait looked at her watch. "Guys, it's twelve. Let's go have lunch."  
  
"OK," said the girls. They all ditched their things (except Lily, who brought Professor Fuzzwaddlebey's Exact Guide, Compendium, and Companion to All the Creatures You Don't Want to Meet in a Dark Alley {and Some You Do}), and Kait quickly changed back into her normal Muggle clothes. They were now fully restored, and a bit hyperactive, so Kait and Lily had an arm- fight (like a sword fight but with their arms) on the stairs. Many a prefect looked at them like they were thinking of calling St. Mungo's, because calls of "parry" and "thrust" preceded them by about thirty seconds.  
  
They finally all sat down to lunch (at the Gryffindor table),and, rather than starting conversation, Kait looked around. Fred and George were even more googly-eyed at Siri and Fiona than they'd been at breakfast (they were practically drooling), and while Siri probably wouldn't take all that much convincing, (or at least, something that Fred could manage) Kait started wondering how to make Fiona become obsessed with George. 


	4. Exploration and Pillow Wars

When Science Labs Explode  
  
Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else.  
  
We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!  
  
A/N: I wrote this with Ella Moon, so if you recognize her style of writing or word usage or whatever, then that'll be why. This is also my very first time posting so if things are a little screwed, I apologize. I'M LEARNING!!!  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"I want a wand!" whined Kait.  
  
"Oh, shut up!" snapped Lily.  
  
"Uh-oh. You've pissed her off. Stop whining now and maybe she'll let you live," cautioned Airinne. Lily responded by baring her (very sharp and dangerous-looking) teeth.  
  
"But I want a wand!" continued Kait.  
  
Lily snarled at her, brandishing her "claws". Kait whimpered and tried to hide behind Siri, who was looking worried, and also rather peeved.  
  
"Hey, I know!" said Amy.  
  
"What?" growled Lily.  
  
"Let's go ambush a class!"  
  
So that's what they did. Kind of. Sort of. No, not really. What REALLY happened was this:  
  
They all decided to have a mock war, with each side having only two soldiers/warriors/whatchamawhozits. Lily and Kait were on one side, Airinne and Siri on another, with everybody else sort of clinging to each other and cowering in the corners. Airinne and Siri were chasing Lily and Kait down a hallway on the ground floor of the castle, while Lily was running out of breath and Kait was practically having an asthma attack. They spotted a slightly open door ahead of them, put on one final burst of speed and dashed in, slamming the door shut and locking it as soon as they were in.  
  
"Er, what are you two doing?"  
  
Lily and Kait spun around, chests heaving. They gasped for air (Kait had already dug out her puffer and was using it), their eyes frantically scanning the classroom which was not nearly as empty as they had thought. Lily cursed under her breath.  
  
"Uh, well you see, professor, um, well, Airinne and Siri were chasing us, and, erm, well we, ah," stammered Kait. Lily swiftly interrupted. "Do those windows open?"  
  
"Er, why, yes I believe so…"  
  
"Good. Are they locked?"  
  
"I don't think so…"  
  
"Yes!" cried Lily. "Come on, Kait!"  
  
"What?" Lily sighed in exasperation.  
  
"All right, here's the plan. When Airinne and Siri start either picking the lock or trying to break the door down, we slip out the window and onto the castle grounds. Then we're home free!" Her eyes glinted fiercely. "All we have to do at the moment is open one of those windows and slip out." Kait was a quick study, and she soon got the idea. She sped over to a window and tried to open it. After several unsuccessful attempts, Lily threw up her hands in disgust, walked over to the window, and unlocked it. Kait blushed furiously. Lily then tried to open it. After she gave up, she turned to the class of fifth years (who had all just sat there staring) and requested their help. Actually, she didn't really do anything at all. This happened to be Terry Boots' class, and he wanted to impress her, for some odd reason. So when she said, "Um, look, apparently the window's stuck, and we can't get it open, could somebody…" he quickly stood up, walked over to the window and opened it. With the aid of his wand.  
  
"Oh, so that's how you do it. Turns out we were doin' it wrong the whole time." said Kait.  
  
"It figures."  
  
With a quick "thank you" to Terry, they slipped out the window and dropped into the bushes below. He sighed after the girls (namely Lily) and then closed the window. He returned to his desk and sat down.  
  
"Well," said Professor Flitwick, "that was an interesting experience. To continue with today's lesson…" Terry sighed and got back to work.  
  
Meanwhile, outside the door…  
  
"Let's break it down!" said Airinne. Siri called her a moron, but agreed. Airinne threw herself against the door a few times, then reeled away, her eyes glazed over slightly with pain. Siri called her a moron again.  
  
"Why don't we just pick the stupid lock?" she suggested.  
  
"You do it. That door made a deliberate attempt on my life!" said Airinne. Siri rolled her eyes and dug out a small metal wire and inserted it into the lock.  
  
Out on the grounds…  
  
"Let's go into the Forbidden Forest!"  
  
"Are you insane?" exclaimed Kait.  
  
"Well, I'm not sure, but I like to think I am," Lily said modestly.  
  
"It's called the Forbidden Forest for a REASON, Lily."  
  
"It is? Oh, gee, I thought they just called it that cause it sounded nice," joked Lily (well, actually, she said it sarcastically, but she meant it as a joke, and not an insult to Kait's intelligence {or intelligence in general}). "How about Hagrid's hut?"  
  
"Oh, all right." They walked, still trying to catch their breath from the mad dash into the classroom. When they got there, they found the fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins taking Care of Magical Creatures.  
  
"SWEET!" exclaimed Lily, and raced forward.  
  
"Hey! Wait up, Lily!"  
  
Hagrid was just about to start a lesson on hippocampi (plural for hippocampus), when two strange girls sped into the middle of his class, crashing into two of his students. The blonde girl crashed into Ron Weasley, whereas the dark-haired girl crashed into Draco Malfoy. Well, they DID yell "LOOK OUT!" just before contact, their arms wind-milling and their feet skidding on the grass. The brunette had cursed, as well. When they disentangled themselves, (the brunette got up first and went to help the blonde while the boys were left to their own devices) the brunette had looked around brightly and said, "Did we miss anything?" Meanwhile the blonde inched away from her companion, blushing furiously because the two of them had interrupted two classes already, and she was considering the horrible possibility that they might actually get detention.  
  
The class set off towards the lake, where the hippocampi were waiting. Ron walked along beside Harry, as usual, but he had an absent look on his face and his eyes were misted and dreamy-looking. Kaitlyn and Lily were busy chatting with each other, Lily talking eagerly about her hopes for the course. Hagrid didn't seem to mind having the two girls tag along, he'd rather have them with his class than running around disrupting, say, Divination. And they didn't seem to mind tagging along with an older class. Ron's misty eyes were locked on Kait's figure as she gestured and argued heatedly with Lily about something. In a few minutes he discovered that the subject of their heated debate, prompted by the lake, had been which shade of blue-green was teal and which was turquoise. After a while they stopped arguing, at which point Kait threw an arm about her friend's shoulders, and began singing. Or rather, she would have, but hadn't gotten much further than humming and singing softly (Kait had just begun a line that started "Bonhomme, Bonhomme") when they reached the lake.  
  
A hippocampus reared out of the water, eyes rolling wildly and hooves flailing. After a little while it seemed to calm down. Not that Ron noticed, he was busy staring in a love-lorn fashion at Kait, while Harry had long since given up conversation with Ron, since the best answer he got was "Uh-huh", "Sure", "Whatever", and once Harry got a funny look from Ron. So he rolled his eyes and shrugged philosophically.  
  
"Oh. My. God."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Did you just see that?"  
  
"What, you mean the hippocampus?"  
  
"Yeah, wasn't it sweet?"  
  
"Well, sure, but… Oh no. You wouldn't…. Oh wait, yes you… LILY!!! GET BACK HERE, DON'T," but it was too late. Lily had broken away from the throng and was already racing towards the water, a bright light shining in her eyes.  
  
"Omigod, omigod, omigod, omigod, omigod! This is SO SWEET!" she slowed her pace, and raised her hands so that the hippocampi would know that she meant no harm. She waded slowly into the water, while behind her Kait was wringing her hands and chewing her lower lip anxiously. Lily began crooning softly to the hippocampi, keeping her eyes on them, and trying to make herself appear as unthreatening as possible. A hippocampus relaxed, while the others sort of panicked and swam away a little. She walked up to it, still crooning and singing soothingly. She reached up a hand and stroked its shoulder. It shuddered, but stayed still. She continued to act as soothingly as she could, while stroking it gently.  
  
The class (and Hagrid) looked on in awe.  
  
However, when she reached up to pat its head and stroke its muzzle, it panicked and swung its heavily muscled tail in her general direction ("wild" animals in general being very paranoid about people touching their heads).  
  
Unfortunately, the swing connected, and blew her out of the water. She shot towards the shore like a human cannonball, hit several people, and collapsed on the ground. She lay there, totally unmoving and unconscious, while Kait ran over and started freaking out. Just when Kait was about to perform CPR on her, Lily sat up groggily, shook her head to clear it, and then grinned.  
  
"That was fun. Let's do it again!" At which point Hagrid, who had been worried that he might lose his teaching license because of this incident, fell over in a dead faint. Kait yelled, "I'll call the Men in White if you do!" And promptly hit her friend over the head.  
  
Back outside Professor Flitwick's class, Siri had the lock picked and was trying to restrain Airinne from running in without her. After a minute, she gave up and they both ran in, and were immediately confronted by several dozen flying pillows, several of which were headed straight for the two girls.  
  
"AAAHHH!!!"  
  
Fiona, Ariadne and Ally were sitting in the library discussing things like make-up, religions, and boys when Lily and Kait wandered in (actually, Kait wandered in; Lily just sort of squelched), arguing heatedly.  
  
"I wanted to go to the Forbidden Forest after CMC, but nooo, you didn't want to run into centaurs or werewolves or whatever. So now we're stuck in this…." Lily's voice trailed off. "Whoa. That's a lot of books. LET ME AT 'EM!!!" (she happened to be extremely hyper at the moment)  
  
"Not again!" moaned Kait. And then ran after her friend in the hopes of stopping her before it was too late.  
  
"Fiona, Ally, 'Adne, HELP!" The three other girls looked up and saw a dripping wet Lily straining and trying to run at the bookshelves, with Kait holding tightly to Lily's arm, trying to keep her in one place. The girls quickly ran to help Kait hold Lily back. After a while they finally managed to get Lily back under control, and they all went out of the library, so as to avoid any temptation for Lily. They were wandering around in the castle when a pillow flew out of the Charms classroom and hit Lily on the head, at which point she saw red and tried to get into the classroom so she could severely maim the person who threw the pillow. Or, if she couldn't find the culprit, just start mortally wounding anyone who came within reach. Kait grabbed the pillow and hit the struggling Lily (hard) upside the head with it.  
  
"Thanks, I needed that."  
  
"You're welcome." Lily then grabbed the pillow and threw it back into the Charms classroom, where it hit Siri. "PILLOW FIGHT!" yelled Airinne.  
  
And so began the War of the Pillows, which lasted for about half an hour, disrupted several classes, and caused all students that weren't GATE or Muggle-born to hide under the desks and tables, while the rest of the school fought on. At the end of the War, all participants called a truce and went on with their day. The professors, thankfully, were actually very interested, and the Muggle Studies professor had his class take notes. Lily and Kait left the Charms classroom and wandered the halls, singing and arm-fighting.  
  
"Parry!"  
  
"Thrust!"  
  
The problem with arm-fighting is that the duelers always "parry" at exactly the same time, and "thrust" at the exact same time, with the result that all they're doing is parrying. However, eventually one will score a hit, and the one who got hit will act as though wounded, but in an extremely fake way that is actually rather funny, especially if the proper staggers are included in the performance. Lily was hit several times in this manner, and the two were singing the Cheshire Cat Song (Jabberwocky, for those who know the actual name of the song), from Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" when they walked - smack! - right into Fiona and Ariadne.  
  
"Sorry!"  
  
"It's OK."  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"Miss Andrews' room." Kaitlyn looked inquisitively at Fiona.  
  
"We're going to get a class schedule so we know where to go tomorrow," Adne (short for Ariadne) explained.  
  
"Oh. That works," said Lily. "Mind if we join you?"  
  
"Nope." And off they went. 


	5. Flying Colours

When Science Labs Explode  
  
Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else.  
  
We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!  
  
A/N: I wrote this with Ella Moon, so if you recognize her style of writing or word usage or whatever, then that'll be why. This is also my very first time posting so if things are a little screwed, I apologize. I'M LEARNING!!!  
  
Chapter 5  
  
The GATE kids progressed so quickly through their courses that by Friday they were all at the same "level" as the fourth years. Yes, we know that it's amazing, but they had taken a test that had said they were exceptionally talented (which is not to be mistaken for "intelligent"), and they all enjoyed their classes, which, when put together, reveal why they flew through the classes at a speed that was mind-boggling. Also, they discovered many hidden passageways, trap doors, and annoyed several teachers to the point of distraction. On Thursday, Siri had written "Harry Potter LIVES!" on a blackboard and forged Peeve's signature underneath it. Of course, Peeves got blamed, no one found out that Siri had done it (except for her pals, who burst out laughing when they found out). They wouldn't tell - "moo" had appeared on the majority of Ransom chalkboards, and no one had cared, so they assumed the same about "Harry Potter LIVES!" On Friday morning, just before breakfast, Lily and Kait were walking down to the Great Hall when they found Siri and Airinne hiding in a corner. They soon discovered that Siri had planned a special "surprise" for Peeves, and she wanted to be around when he found it. So Lily and Kait stuck around, mostly to see what Peeves would do when he found the "surprise".  
  
One minute after Kait and Lily had found a suitable hiding spot, Peeves flew in and hit the prank that Siri had painstakingly set up for him. Scared out of his wits, Peeves flew away screaming. As soon as he was gone, the girls came out of hiding. Well actually, they sort of fell out, they were laughing so hard. After getting themselves under control, or at least enough so that they could walk, they headed to the Great Hall for breakfast, where they found Bruce stuffing his face.  
  
By this time, several love-struck young men (namely Fred, George, Ron and Terry) didn't even bother to pretend to eat. They just sat, and stared, and sighed.  
  
The GATE kids kept the noise level in the Great Hall at a dull roar that only minimally hurt the ears if you weren't used to noise. Or had never been at a special occasion where they play the music so loud you can feel it thumping in your chest cavity like a second heart. At any rate, the British kids had to raise their voices to talk to each other, which raised the noise level a bit. If the noise level went up several decibels higher than what the GATE kids liked it at (as has been said, a dull roar), the offending wizards (or witches) were yelled at and thoroughly cowed by the GATE kids. Who then settled back and continued to "yap", as Lily so elegantly put it, with each other.  
  
"Ahem." Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat.  
  
"Excuse me, I would like to make an announcement, so would you mind very horribly…" if anything, the noise got louder. Lily saw Dumbledore's predicament and brought it to the attention of her friends, and then got up, walked over to the despairing Headmaster, and whispered something in his ear, after which she calmly strode back to her seat. Dumbledore took a deep breath, and…  
  
"ALL RIGHT, YOU LOT! I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE, AND YOU'D BETTER LISTEN AND LISTEN WELL!!!" Everyone shut up as soon as he started speaking (or yelling, whichever you want to call it). Dumbledore looked pleased with himself. Everyone looked somewhat surprised, except the GATE kids, who were only marginally impressed.  
  
"Now then, I am sure you've all met our new arrivals, and would like to get to know them better" here the four love-struck young men nodded emphatically (or at least agreed whole-heartedly inside) "on their own ground. On the twenty-eighth of November, we will be adding a new course."  
  
A GATE kid (who shall remain nameless) called out, "Is it compulsory?"  
  
"Erm, yes, it is compulsory, but I'm sure you'll all enjoy it." The GATE kids sighed exasperatedly.  
  
"So, tell us what it IS already!" Dumbledore had the grace to look embarrassed for not telling them.  
  
"Social Dance!" Lily looked horrified. Her friends exchanged sympathetic looks, while all the wizards in earshot of them looked slightly puzzled, and the other GATE kids looked like they wanted to jump up and run away from Hogwarts as far and as fast as they could.  
  
Later, as they were walking off to Potions…  
  
"I can't believe it! FOUR freaking years in a row, and this year it just HAD to start on my birthday!" the last word ended in a sob/whimper, and Lily bowed her head and rushed off with Kait to Herbology.  
  
As usual, they got there before all the other students (they were the only GATE kids in this particular class), and so they bummed around their table, chatting while they waited for their class (and teacher) to arrive. Lily was busy scribbling something down on a piece of paper (she had refused to use the quills and parchment she'd gotten on Tuesday, preferring to stick with Muggle "crap": pens, paper, etc.), while she debated with Kait about why wizards should "upgrade" to ball-point pens, at least. Or, even better, computers.  
  
"What's that you're writing?"  
  
"Oh, just jotting down some stuff for Muggle Studies."  
  
"But you don't take Muggle Studies."  
  
"Of course not! I'm helping out a friend."  
  
"Oh? And what friend would this be?" asked Kait, a strange look on her face.  
  
"Not THAT kind of friend, you moron."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"If you MUST know… (I've always wanted to say that!) It's for Cho."  
  
"Oh." Kait thought about that for a minute. "Why isn't she doing her own homework?"  
  
"This IS her homework. Sort of. They were supposed to come up with some interview questions that they'd ask a Muggle if they got the chance, and for extra credit she's taking it one step further."  
  
"Interviewing a Muggle?"  
  
"You got it." She went back to scribbling on the paper while Kait looked around her. Five minutes passed, with no sound but the movement of Lily's pen on the paper. Then,  
  
"I think they're coming now."  
  
"Th' other kids?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"How's about the Prof.?"  
  
"Not sure."  
  
"Alright. Well, I'm just about finished answering these questions anyway."  
  
"Already?"  
  
"Yup. These are the stupidest questions, you know."  
  
"Well, I would expect that, since they know practically nothing about Muggles anyway."  
  
"Yeah, well, even considering that fact these are still stupid questions."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"You betcha."  
  
"I'd rather not." Lily laughed, scribbled a quick answer, and put the sheet away as the other students arrived.  
  
"Hey, what took you guys so long?" The wizards all replied in a nondescript manner, and took up their places. A moment later the Professor hurried in and began the class.  
  
Some time later, while Kait and Lily were both humming songs while they worked, there was a loud BOOM!, the sound of glass shattering, and the ground shook violently. The wizards and witches panicked slightly. When all the excitement died down, the shaken professor demanded, of no one in particular,  
  
"What happened? What was that?" Lily and Kait exchanged a knowing look, and Lily said, "That would probably be Airinne."  
  
"What are you talking about?" a panicky witch (somewhat shrilly) demanded.  
  
"Well, she's always wanted to blow something up…" said Kait.  
  
"So now she's got her chance," finished Lily.  
  
"Even though she already did the science lab. But that was inadvertent, I think…" added Kait.  
  
"Got her chance to do WHAT?" demanded the distracted professor.  
  
"She's blown up the Potions lab," they said in unison. 


	6. Draco's First Time

When Science Labs Explode  
  
Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else.  
  
We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!  
  
A/N: I wrote this with Ella Moon, so if you recognize her style of writing or word usage or whatever, then that'll be why. This is also my very first time posting so if things are a little screwed, I apologize. I'M LEARNING!!!  
  
Chapter 6  
  
Or "Draco's First Time"  
  
That night, some time after dinner had ended, Lily was leaving the library and heading back to the Ravenclaw common room when she was confronted by three figures.  
  
Two were big, muscular and brainless (some people even LOOK like absolute retards when they're dumb enough), while the other one (the one in the middle) was smaller, more intelligent-looking, and very, very, pale. He was practically albino.  
  
"What do you want?" asked Lily. The pale skinnier one whispered something to his bodyguards (Lily said later that that was what it looked like, and we're going with her version), who then sort of faded into the background, which was a remarkable feat for people that stupid. In any case, if you haven't figured it out already, the two big stupid ones were Crabbe and Goyle, which made the skinny guy in the middle a very nervous-looking Draco Malfoy.  
  
"Erm… So, uh, hullo Lily." He said somewhat idiotically.  
  
"Hullo, Malfoy…" she replied cautiously.  
  
"Um, you know we're going to Hogsmeade tomorrow…"  
  
"Doesn't everyone?"  
  
"Erm, well, I suppose so, but anyway, um… Your being new here and all, I was wondering…"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Uh, so I can, uh, you know, show you around 'n' stuff…" Lily considered this for a moment, and then gave him her answer:  
  
"No." Malfoy became very angry. Nobody, but nobody turned a Malfoy down! He signaled to Crabbe and Goyle, and they advanced, driving sledgehammer fists into their hands, ready to teach this insolent upstart a lesson. She set down her books.  
  
* * *  
  
Later, just outside the Ravenclaw tower…  
  
"Hey, have you guys seen Lily?"  
  
"Nope, sorry. Why?"  
  
"She went to the library like three hours ago or something and she isn't back yet."  
  
"Did you check your dorm?"  
  
"Yes, AND the common room, AND the edges of the Forbidden Forest, AND by Hagrid's place. We looked everywhere, but we can't find her!"  
  
Just then, Lily walked up, inspecting her nails.  
  
"Hey guys."  
  
"Oh, thank goodness! We thought you'd died or something!"  
  
"Nah. You know something?" Lily's attention was completely focused on getting something out from under her nail.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The problem with blood is that it's extremely difficult to get out from under your nails."  
  
* * *  
  
The next morning, Sally, Kait and Lily had to throw their pillows at Amy to get her up. They then got ready for a whole day out rampaging in the (formerly) peaceful town of Hogsmeade. They went out, met up with their pals, and then set off for Hogsmeade in a fairly large clump.  
  
When they arrived, they split up, after agreeing to meet outside the Three Broomsticks at two o'clock. That gave everyone about four hours or so to wander around aimlessly and/or explore. Lily, Kait, Siri and Airinne made a beeline for Honeydukes, where they spent a mouth-watering half-hour and where Kait bought about twenty Galleons' worth of candy. As they walked out, Lily was talking loudly with Siri and Airinne, while all three stared hungrily at Kait's bulging bag of sweets.  
  
"OK, as soon as possible, I am checking out the exchange rates!"  
  
"Aw, c'mon Lily. I told you I'd share with you guys." Siri and Airinne promptly devoured half the bag and, since they wanted to see some other things, and bug some more people, they left.  
  
"It's not the same!" Lily wailed. Kait popped some Every Flavour beans into her mouth, spat some out (vomit, pepper, and earwax flavoured), and dug through her bag for something. Her hand emerged holding a small, foil- wrapped something-or-other, and held it out to Lily.  
  
"Chocolate frog?"  
  
"Stop it!" wailed the tormented Lily. At that precise moment (well, it was actually about fifteen minutes later, when Lily and Kait were sitting on a hill on the outskirts of town), Terry Boot walked by, and heard Lily complaining about not being able to buy any "food" (in this case candy). He stopped nearby and listened to the two girls arguing.  
  
"Stopitstopitstopit!"  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"No, you're not! You're gloating! That is extremely evil! EVIL! Not even I do that, and I'm the 'evil demon child'!" When Kait popped another candy into her mouth and teased Lily some more, she (Lily) jumped to her feet, said, "you're so MEAN, Kait!" who yelled, "I said I'd give you one! So I'm gloating so you'll accept!" and Lily sped off. Unfortunately she didn't get very far, since she was so upset she ran right into Terry. Kait, seeing her fallen friend lying on the cold November ground, ran over, laughing slightly, but a bright red Terry (a point which Kait marked with interest) had already helped Lily to her feet and was trying to brush her off. This wasn't a smart move; she clawed him across the cheek (which was bent at her hip level, so he could brush off her pants below the knee), and he reeled up, clutching his bleeding face, with a sort of toned down "I like 'em fiery" look on his face. Lily commenced brushing herself off, with the air of a cat who was sure she could do a better job than the groomer. She, in this case, was right. Terry didn't go away. When Kait was standing by Lily, and whispering in her ear, Lily gave Terry a sardonic look, basically conveying the thought, "why the hell are you still here?". He decided he'd better come up with an excuse to explain himself with, so he started a conversation.  
  
"Er… I heard you couldn't buy any candy - should… can - will you let -heh - me buy you some?"  
  
Kait almost choked to death on her chocolate frog, but Lily, at the prospect of her own bag of candy, decided to ignore the evident implications of this gesture, and started running towards Honeydukes, dragging a magenta Terry behind her. Kait ran ditzily and wheezily behind them.  
  
Back in Honeydukes, a crowd, including Harry and Co., was gathered around the owner. He was, it seemed, presenting a new candy, which was named Fairy Wool. Harry and Ginny were at close quarters at the time, in the mob before the counter, and Ginny seemed to relish being this close to "amazing Harry". Harry was smiling slightly, but not making any other sign that he noticed that the person pressed up against his chest because of the mob was none other than Ginny, nor that, from what he could see of her ears, she was blushing to extremities. Kait was trying to see what "Fairy Wool" was, and, sucking on one of her five remaining Fizzing Whizzbees, she got a better view than Lily (who wouldn't accept one anyway). However, she still couldn't see what the candy was, because Ariadne was almost at the front (Ariadne was fully six feet tall). When, ten minutes later, the surging crowd had receded, (Kait still hadn't seen the candy, she'd been in the "unusual tastes" corner, where Ron was making small talk with her. Harry and Ginny were plotting against Peeves with Siri), Kait went over to the counter to see the new candy. She bought about eight or nine bags of glittery, rainbow fluff. She had a rainbow-coloured tongue and her fingers were stained rainbow by the time she exclaimed, "It's just cotton candy! Very yummy, sparkly, brightly coloured cotton candy, but that's all it is!"  
  
"What's cotton candy?" asked Ron. Lily was walking by with a giant, bulging bag of candy just then, and she stopped to hang out with Kait and answer Ron's question.  
  
"Well, it's like cotton… no wait. That doesn't work. Um… Basically, it's spun sugar." Ron gave her a blank look. She sighed exasperatedly, nipped a bit of Fairy Wool from Kait, thrust it at Ron and said "Here, try it." He cautiously stuck it in his mouth, where it promptly melted. He was left with a pile of rainbow coloured sugar on his tongue. He swallowed.  
  
"Um, Kait?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"May I have some more, please?" Lily burst out laughing and threw a bag of it at him. 


	7. Draco's Second Try

When Science Labs Explode  
  
A/N: I wrote this with Ella Moon, so if you recognize her style of writing or word usage or whatever, then that'll be why. This is also my very first time posting so if things are a little screwed, I apologize. I'M LEARNING!!!  
  
Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else.  
  
We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!  
  
Chapter 7  
  
Or "Draco's Second Try"  
  
Later in the day, Kait was walking to the Ravenclaw common room from the South Tower with Lily and the others. She had dropped back behind everyone else, and made a squawk that none of her friends heard as someone grabbed her by the collar and dragged her into a side hall. She almost screamed when she saw Draco Malfoy standing there, with smooth white-blond hair and dashing black robes. He would've been almost too handsome if he hadn't been so sickly pale and didn't look so scornful. Then Kait realized she was being restrained by Crabbe, who, she noticed, smelled horrible, and had his hand over her mouth. She spat into it. The offending hand was removed. Draco clapped his hands like a mini, pale-blond maharajah, and Crabbe and Goyle slid into another hall, leaving them alone. Kait prepared to bolt - she bit her nails, so they were of no use, and she was generally not the "duke-it-out" sort of girl. She was more like a fluffy bunny; confronted, Lily was the vicious feline, prepared to fight, and Kaitlyn was the scared rabbit, prepared to flee. More the non-serious confrontational type. However, either Crabbe or Goyle had used the leg-locker curse, or Draco was using dark magic, or his fiery touch iced her bones and made her amazingly terrified (he reminded her, in his black robes and sarcastic eyes, of someone she'd read of … he'd been bad news), but in any case, Kait couldn't run. Draco, noting this, released his grip on her arm and attempted to play it cool, inviting her to lean against the wall beside him. She simply looked terrified (deer-in-the-headlights sort of eyes).  
  
"OK, if you won't relax, listen." He drawled, making his voice low, and making Kait's skin crawl, causing her to back away from him.  
  
"I know some pretty secret places in this school," he said, and Kait backed away farther. "And they're the perfect places for people like - you and me, for example, to meet… you know, at night… to have some… fun…" Kait realized what he was hinting at, and the thought of dating someone like Malfoy, whom many a girl had, she knew, swooned over, disgusted her. She, faced with the chance (and not an "I'm madly in love with you, please go out with me" chance, an "I need a girl and you're next on my list" chance) did not feel flattered that someone as good-looking as Draco was asking her out. No, she ran away, her insides churning but functional, her face dripping with sweat like she'd just had a nightmare (and maybe she had, you never knew), and tears streaming down her cheeks. She raced up some passages, and came into the main hallway leading to the Ravenclaw Tower entrance, where her friends were just uttering the password. When they saw Kait tear around the corner looking as if a dementor was after her, they stopped and turned to face her. She reached the safe haven of her buddies' company, where they fussed over her until Lily took charge.  
  
"Alright, already! She knows we're worried. Give her some space, peoples, jeez! Come on, Kait." And then Kait was led into the common room and up into the girls' dorm.  
  
"Are you OK?" Kait nodded.  
  
"Would you mind telling us what happened, Kait?" asked Sally.  
  
So Kait told them about the whole incident/encounter, and as soon as Lily heard, she started cussing a blue streak and went tearing down the hall. When she found the offending three, she confronted them.  
  
"Malfoy." He turned to look at her.  
  
"What do you want?" he asked, a look of immense derision marring his otherwise attractive features.  
  
"Oh, just wondering when you're going to stop terrorizing innocent girls." She said, her attention seemingly focused on her nails.  
  
Crabbe and Goyle stiffened, prepared to pummel this insolent girl till she screamed for mercy, and maybe a little longer. Sensing the movement, she immediately glanced up, her dark eyes intently watching them. Crabbe and Goyle clenched their fists while Draco shifted somewhat nervously, and still the dark gaze remained on them, never flickering for an instant. After about a minute, all three boys were very nervous, wondering what she was doing. She still hadn't moved, not one muscle, except to blink and breathe, but somehow when she blinked that terrible gaze grew more intense.  
  
"Not long now." She murmured, although they couldn't think why… Lily's dark stare was completely unnerving, it was as if her attention was focused completely on you, but she was aware of everything around her at the same time.  
  
Goyle was trying to distract her while Crabbe rushed in, fists flying. Lily kicked Crabbe in the shins, and he sprawled on the stone floor. He got up, shook his head and rushed at her again. She stuck out a fist and he ran straight into it. Draco looked around nervously. He attempted to keep up the act of scorn, but gave up after a moment.  
  
"You don't scare me, girl." He said scornfully.  
  
Lily bristled at the use of gender as an insult. He gulped audibly. Her lip curled in a sneer, and somehow she did it better than Draco, who had been doing it for practically his whole life. Her voice was soft and quietly dangerous as she said, "Why don't we take it outside, Malfoy?" He gulped again, looking around him as though searching for reinforcements.  
  
"Somewhere quiet, and… secretive, perhaps? I'm told you know lots of places like that. Why don't you show me one?" Amy snickered.  
  
"Uh… o-okay." Draco said, and edged down the hall, Lily close behind him.  
  
"Remind me never to make Lily mad," said Amy.  
  
"Sure thing," replied Kaitlyn, sucking on a chocolate frog.  
  
* * *  
  
Out on the grounds, Harry and Ron were out walking, when they heard a strange noise coming from their right, away from the castle. They edged closer, all conversation over, ears straining to catch stray sounds. There was the sound of a scuffle back behind some bushes, accompanied by muffled cries and savage growls and hisses. A tiny scream of fear and pain echoed in the dark night. It was swiftly followed by an angry snarl, and the agonized squealing subsided into fearful whimpering. And then, a sudden violent movement in the bushes, and a dark shadow, just slightly blacker than the night, sped off towards the castle. Ron and Harry were about to give chase when a piercing cry split the night.  
  
"SHE BIT ME!!!"  
  
* * *  
  
Later, Kait, Lily, Amy and all the others were walking to the hospital wing, going to get Kait some chocolate. When they arrived, a whimpering Malfoy was extending an arm with teeth marks and blood to Madam Pomfrey to treat for rabies. Not that he had anything to worry about, but he wanted to be on the safe side. Kait and Lily exchanged glances, snickered, and Kait seemed back to normal. However, Lily gagged and ran off.  
  
When Kait, Sally and Amy returned to their dorm, (having left Suzy down in the common room, flirting) they found Lily in the bathroom, busily brushing and flossing her teeth as though she had tasted something awful and was trying to get the lingering flavour out of her mouth.  
  
"Hey, Sally, mind if I borrow your mouthwash?"  
  
"Uh… no, go right ahead."  
  
"Thanks." She grabbed the bottle. Rinsed, gargled, and rinsed some more. 


	8. Kissing Games and the First Appearance O...

Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else. 

We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!

A/N: I wrote this with Jabberwocky, so if you recognize her style of writing, that'll be why.

__

****

Chapter 8

A week later, George was quite surprised to be interrupted in his deep contemplations of how amazing Fiona (by then he had obtained her name) was, by a group of girls standing in front of him.

"Hi George," one said. "I'm Kait. This is Sally, Lily, Amy, Kailie, Ally and Ariadne, and we're friends of Fiona."

"We noticed you have a crush on her," said the one called Sally.

"And we know you're going to want to ask her out sometime."

"And we think that's wonderful. However…"

"Fiona, the dear, tends towards somewhat self-destructive behavior."

"And this is the first chance we've had to influence her boyfriend."

"We ask you to agree to these terms" (one pulled out a list) "and we'll see what we can do to get her to love you back. Don't worry, nothing illegal. And don't worry, she'll be happy." The list unfurled, and George read it.

By Signing The Bottom Of This Document, You Agree To The Following:

1.Never take advantage of Fiona in any way imaginable.

2.Never hurt Fiona, emotionally or otherwise.

3.Keep her from hurting herself while you are her boyfriend.

4.Tell us if her annoying habit of not eating grows to anorexia.

5.Be a compassionate and understanding confidante throughout the duration of your relationship with her, and maybe afterwards.

The scroll went on to:

110. Reassure her as many times as need be that she is, in fact, NOT FAT!

Why Would You Agree To Such Terms? We Figure That If You Really Love Fiona, You Will.

Why Do We Care? Because She's Our Friend, And We're Sick Of Taking Care Of Her. 

George did think it was a little overboard, but he did love Fiona, so he signed with a flourish.

"So how can I win her heart?" George asked.

"Well, first write her a love note. Leave the rest to us. And don't make it anonymous," they said, and crowded around as he did.

"Dear Fiona,

I don't know how I'm gonna say this, but I guess I have to. Fiona, I love you. There, I said it.

Love, George Weasley."

They took it.

"Thanks, you'll have Fiona all to yourself in no time," the girls said, and walked off. Just then Kailie ran back and said,

"Um, George, please come to the East Tower at 9:00 pm on Saturday. Fiona'll be there." 

"OK," answered George. 

That night at nine, there was a pretty big crowd in the empty room. They were seated on the rug, and candles were lit. There was a closet, cleaned of its brooms, standing open in the back. When the last of the people she had asked to be there had come in, Kailie got up and closed the door.

"Hi. You're mostly my friends, but I told everyone to bring someone if they could," she said, to the twenty people sitting there. They were boys and girls, from all the houses, and over many years. "What we're doing is playing some games. I thought we - all us GATEs and you wizards - should get better acquainted - and if you looking for acquaintance, these are the best games to play.

"First is 'Honey'." (Kait giggled) "What you do is someone is 'it'. They have to ask someone 'Honey, if you love me, will you please, please smile'. The person has to answer 'honey, I love you, but I just can't smile'. You can change the names and touch the other person. Nothing grossly sick or illegal, though. Oh yeah, and it doesn't matter who you pick, it doesn't mean anything anyway. After you're it three times the last person you honeyed is up, whether they smiled or not. OK, everybody cool?"

There were nods around the room. Some looked confused. Others apprehensive, others scared, others happy, most on the verge of laughter.

"OK, I'll be it," said Kailie. She closed her eyes and spun around, to pick who she'd go with. When she opened her eyes she was pointing at a boy she'd seen in the Gryffindor common room but didn't know at all. "What's your name?"

"Jason."

"OK, hi Jason, I'm Kailie. Here we go." She sat in his lap and threw her arms around him dramatically. He looked at her like she was crazy. She started twirling his hair around her finger. "Jason, darling, honey, love of my life, if you love me, please, I beg of you, with a cherry on top, smile? For me? For the children?" Kailie could see she was getting somewhere, Jason was crimson. Everyone else was laughing so hard tears ran down their cheeks. Bruce was rolling around on the floor clutching his sides and screaming, "It hurts! It hurts!" which caused everyone else to laugh even harder. It looked as though the wizards were a group of easily embarrassed people.

"Er… H-h-honey… Y-you know I -I l-love you," here he cracked. He heavily stood up. He just asked, desperately, of a Ravenclaw 7th year girl the question. She giggled, seeing how embarrassed he still was. She went to a kid who, when asked his name, said "I'm Drake." He couldn't help giggling, the girl had a thick German accent, and she kept flopping her curls in his face. He went on to Jody.

"What's your name?"

"Jody."

"OK. Here goes nothing at all! Lovely Lady of the… er… Canada… if you love me - or something - smile?"

"Honey, you know I love you, but I just can't smile," Jody said in a monotone, she was also trying not to laugh. Then Drake did some first year, she went up and asked Terry, who forced a smile right away. He almost ran (though not quite) to where Lily was sitting. Kait was laughing. Lily was giving him the same "what the hell are _you_ doing here?" look she'd had on the hill in Hogsmeade. He decided he'd go for it, and make a good job of this. He sat down and started stroking Lily's leg. And did something else with an arm that wasn't rude but you couldn't exactly see. Lily didn't like this either. She looked like she wanted to back away from him, but it wasn't allowed. He made his eyes as intense as they could get, and stared into her incredibly sarcastic ones. "Honey, if you love me, will you please, please smile?" he asked.

"Honey. You know I love you. But I Just. Can't. Smile. Now get the h-e-double-hockey-sticks away from me." Lily said, pointedly. He dropped the façade at one and moved on. Eventually the ring got to Ron. It was a boy asking him, but he laughed pointedly almost before he'd begun and moved right to Kait. She looked downright surprised. And skeptical.

"Can we move them?" he asked Kailie.

"If they'll move."

He picked Kait up and put her in his lap. She almost screamed. Everyone else was snickering. He took a very deep breath. Slipped his arm around her waist and held her chin up. She was looking at him like he needed a shrink.

"Honey, if you love me, will you please, please, smile?" He whispered, close up to her face.

"No. No, _darling, _I won't smile, let me off!" she stood up and reclaimed her place. She did look mad. Positively steaming. Also on the verge of tears, but that was understandable, since Kait cried at the slightest provocation. 

She then got up and asked Neville. He almost smiled, but she was so scary in her rage that he couldn't. Then he cracked trying to answer. He got up and asked Airinne. She laughed (actually it was more of a maniacal grin) because he had decided that he was going to talk like he thought a duck would. And Airinne loved ducks. Just don't ask. But she did. She scared a first year by saying "I Am Bi-Man! And you have to smile to save Geoworld, ducks, and all that is cucumber!"

Eventually the line got back to Lily, where Fiona asked her the question, and then added something best not remembered that caused Lily to crack up. She got up, looked around, paused, and then strode over to where Siri was seated. She got down on her knees, turned around and fiddled with something a moment, then turned around. Siri was totally surprised to see Yoda standing right in front of her! Yoda (who was actually Lily in disguise) said "Siri, to a Jedi Knight become, smile you must." Siri struggled to keep a delighted smile from reaching her face. Yoda turned around and fiddled with something, and when he turned back to face Siri, he was holding a small holographic Obi-Wan Kenobi in his hand. The holograph of Obi-Wan flickered momentarily, at which Yoda wiggled his ears, frowned and fiddled with something by Obi-Wan's feet. The holograph stabilized and began to speak. "Siri, to defeat the Sith and keep the Jedi out of Luke's extremely incapable hands, you must smile." The holograph flickered again and disappeared. "If convinced you this has not, perhaps this will," said Yoda. He turned slightly away from Siri and pointed his cane/stick-type-thing at a wall which rippled, then parted for a tall well-built man dressed in a WWII (American) army uniform.

"OH MY GOD!!!! DANNY!!!!" Siri grinned maniacally, at which point Yoda disappeared, to be replaced by a kneeling Lily.

"Ha! Got you to smile!" Siri grumbled a moment, then got up. She looked around for a moment, then turned to Fred and said, totally deadpan, "Honey, if you love me, will you please, please smile." Much to everyone's surprise, Fred started laughing uncontrollably. Everyone just kind of looked at him funny.

"Uh, Siri? I think he's trying to tell you something…"

We're going to skip through a few of the other kissy-games they played under Kailie's scarred hand, such as suck-and-blow, and the others she used to play back in Calgary. Eventually they got round to Seven Minutes of Heaven. Moans arose from Muggle-borns and GATEs. But Kailie was _convinced_ they should play it, and they held a vote. Unfortunately, most of the people were wizards who had no idea what Seven Minutes of Heaven was, and were quite curious as to what could raise such despairing moans, and still be called Seven Minutes of Heaven. So most of them voted in favour. Kailie, doing the righteous thing, picked Jason, because she knew him kind of, and went into the closet.

"Why are we in here?" he asked

"To - uh - talk, yeah," she answered.

"OK. About what?"

"Anything."

"OK."

The minutes slowly ticked by. Eventually seven minutes were up and they came out again. Now, because this is really, really boring, we're just going to skip to the "important couples", because it would take forever to describe the conversations twenty people have in a closet in pairs. Drake dragged Jody in.

"Er - well… hi," she said.

"Yeah. Hi." Jody was rather alarmed by the fact that his grey-blue eyes looked green and glowed in the dark, and his hair looked silvery.

"How come your eyes glow?" she asked. This was just too weird to beat around the bush about.

"Eyes? Mine? Glow? I don't know what you're talking about." he said, trying to act surprised, and turned away. That was really the only remarkable part of that conversation. Continuing. Neville, wondering what he'd done right with the duck thing, dragged Airinne in.

"Do you like ducks?" he asked.

"Do I like ducks? Are cucumbers green? Is Batman cool? Is Bi-Man even cooler?" she demanded.

"Oh. Ducks are cool."

"They're not cool. They are so amazing…" she continued on for quite some time. For almost seven minutes, actually. Most of them went something like Kailie's. A short talk. Kait's had a big clash and some "ow"s; Ron had picked her and she was really mad at him for picking her… yet again. She had made a mad break for the door after trying to make Ron's head explode (or at least burst into flames) by staring at it, and made most of the brooms still left in the closet fall over and hit Ron on the head. Lily's was also a short talk, but Terry was really trying to figure out what in the world you were supposed to do in the closet. So most of it was as follows:

"So, what are we supposed to be doing?"

"You _don't_ want to know."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't. Trust me on this, 'kay?"

"Er… alright…" 

The only one who actually did what everyone knows you are actually supposed to be doing in Seven Minutes of Heaven was Pansy Parkinson, who had dragged Kirk T. in there. Most of the GATEs turned slightly green, and a few gagged, then ran to the washroom with a hand pressed firmly over their mouth. The moans and heavy breathing coming from the closet upset them a bit. A few minutes later, Lily appeared in the doorway, with her hand on her stomach.

"Are they _still_ in there?"

"Oh, Kirk!" followed a heavy thud from inside the closet. A few more GATE kids jumped up and ran out the door.

"Kailie? Can we go? _PLEASE_?"

"Uh… Yeah, that might be a good idea." Kailie also looked like she was going to puke, but that was her own fault, since she suggested the game.

On the way back to the Ravenclaw Common Room, which was across the castle from the south tower, they saw the person Kailie had chosen for Honey, strutting his stuff down the hallway. He was obviously very cool. However, he walked past Draco and his gang. The girls were behind a corner, watching the scene. They were fervently avoiding Draco these days. As they passed, Draco put on a very nasty sneer, and Jason flipped up the collar on his overly buckled robes. Then they continued walking. And Lily started to whistle "The Rum Tum Tugger". 

"Either that or Danny Zucco," said Kait. "The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat, and there isn't any need for me to shout it, for he will do as he do do, and there's no doin' anything abou-ou-ou-ou-out it!" she commenced singing "The Rum Tum Tugger" until Lily smacked her upside the head. Then she started "He's the Pipe -". Airinne moaned. So did Lily.

"So let me sing The Rum Tum Tugger," said Kait. They gave in. But she started singing "Eldorado, the magnificent, 1000 years ago, Eldorado, Eldorado, Eldora-a-a-ado!"

"Did you guys see his _teeth_?" asked Kailie.

"Er… yeah… bit pointier than normal, eh?"

"Just what I thought…"

"Hmm, maybe we've a vampire in our midst…"

"Wonder if he can turn into a bat?"

"Um, sure he can, Airinne…"

"Yay!" As Airinne said this they were turning another corner, but they heard the voices of Dumbledore and someone else - most guessed by the sneer and topic it was Snape. 

"What's the latest, what is he up to?"

"He's in Canada. I had to take a plane back; that's why I'm so late."

"Why didn't you just Apparate to Hogsmeade?"

"There are Apparation laws in Canada; surely you knew that?"

"No; I haven't been there for ages."

"Oh."

"And you… do you have to go back?" This was from McGonagall, actually. This rather surprised the girls.

"Yeah. Sorry Minnie, you know how it is."

" 'Minnie'?" hissed Lily, an incredulous look on her face.

"Yeah. Remind me why we act so incredibly stupid in front of the students?"

"Min, you know - Gryffindor, Slytherin? It would give the main part of them a heart attack, and the others would die of shock!"

"True. Well, goodbye…" the sentence ended in several mushy 'kissy' noises. Lily almost threw up. 

"Bad mental picture! Ew! Ew! Out! Out! That is sick! Get _out_! Oh gross! Ew!" She said, while hitting her forehead repeatedly with the heel of her hand. Kait laughed. But she quickly stopped; a starry-eyed McGonagall emerged on the arm of Snape, who had a "cat-that-ate-the-canary" self-satisfied grin on his face. When they turned the corner and saw the girls, they quickly separated and donned their normal expressions; dead serious and sneering.

"Lily! You should see Madam Pomfrey, you look rather ill…" said McGonagall, trying to draw attention to someone else.

"She's just a little shocked, Professor, she'll be fine in a bit." said Kait. The two professors turned opposite ways at the next corner, and Lily said firmly "This has been an extremely gross day and I want it over!"


	9. Of Birthdays and Dances

Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else. 

We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!

A/N: I wrote this with Jabberwocky, so if you recognize her style of writing, that'll be why.

__

****

Chapter 9

__

The next day, Lily was wakened up by pillows hitting her head.

"What the hell was that for?" she demanded.

"Happy Birthday Lil!" the other girls shouted.

"Dance today!" Yelled Kait.

"Shut up!" thundered Lily. But the others managed to drag her down to breakfast. Dumbledore stood up. 

"Today you will start Dance. Your classes have been divided so that there is an even number of boys and girls in each class. Division 1 will go now, Division 2 will go in second period, Division 3 after lunch, and Division 4 at the end of the day. You will have Dance at this time every day until Christmas Holidays. When you return, we will have a New Year's Ball. These are the classes. First Years are Division 1, and Marckenda Malison, Heather Cranmore, and Jackson Adlecran. Division 2 is the second and third years, and Yvonne Malone and Rushmore Lyndom. Division 3 is the fourth and fifth years, with no additions. Division 4 is the sixth and seventh years, and Rachel McKinnon. Thank you."

Lily seemed in a very, very bad mood that day, despite all the presents she opened at lunch, including a fluffy striped grey cat she named Merlyn. She had always wanted one, too. But her mood had been soured by the prospect of dancing. She wasn't particularly bad, she just seemed to hate it. Maybe she didn't like the thought of some freaky guy (particularly Kirk L, despite his being a good dancer, as much as she hated admitting it) touching her, and her not being able to mercilessly attack him.

However, as all bad things do eventually, the end of lunch came. Lily came, but she complained and worried all the way to a smaller hall behind the Great one, normally used for special dinners, that was now their dance studio. McGonagall and Dumbledore greeted them as their dance teachers. They lined up in the line forming by a table with a magical sound system and a box of black cloth on it. When they got to the front, they were handed black leotards, pants, and split-soled jazz shoes. They were told to go down the hall and change in the room marked Girls, and that they were to use these clothes for dance from now on.

"Why in the world did Dumbledore spring for modern Muggle dance clothes?" asked Stephanie, although she looked really happy to have a reason to wear dance clothes again. She was missing dancing.

"Because Dumbledore is a freak, how should I know?" answered Kait.

They changed and scooted back into the hall. Everyone was sitting in front of the table, looking up at Dumbledore and McGonagall. The guys were in black t-shirts and loose sweatpants. And jazz runners. Some of the girls wondered why _they_ got jazz runners and the girls didn't. However, Dumbledore began to speak.

"Hello, children. This is your first dance class. This is how it will work. Boys will pick a partner from the girls (all couples _must_ be boy/girl), and you will stay with that partner all dance. However, you can pick your own partner for the New Year's Eve Ball, now, boys, go pick your partners"

All the boys got up and picked people. Tugger, as the girls called him, picked Kailie to be his partner, and the others waited, hoping to be forgotten. All too soon, however, feet appeared under their downcast eyes….

Ron had been watching Kait this whole time, and Terry had been watching Lily. Harry had passingly asked whom he should pick… if Ron maybe wouldn't mind him picking Ginny… he'd rather dance with someone he knew…. And Ron had said that was cool with him, best of luck. He and Terry, however, had become rather good friends lately - Ron had been trying to unobtrusively hang around Kait, and Terry had been doing the same regarding Lily, and since Kait and Lily were almost inseparable, they ended up seeing a lot of each other. And, because they both wanted the same thing from different markets, they decided to help each other out. Strength in numbers. So, when Dumbledore told the guys to choose partners, they very hastily planned what they were going to do. They'd walk over and ask. And if that simple plan backfired… Well, they really didn't want to think about that. So they got up and walked over to the girls. When they looked up, Terry and Ron simultaneously asked them to be their partners. Kait blushed, Lily looked skeptical, but, for lack of better partners, they agreed. The music that began to play was "Now you all join hands and you circle the ring…"; Lily yelped and hid behind Terry. `Adne was singing along. For some reason, she liked that song. Quite a bit.

Dumbledore called them all over to the center to explain the dance. However, all the GATE kids insisted they knew it already, and could dance it just fine, thank you very much, and they'd just drag their partners into place. Dumbledore agreed, and they all got into a circle and started the dance. It was pretty chaotic, because the GATE kids first had to remember _exactly_ how to do the dance, _and _drag their partners along at the same time. And they kept dissolving in laughter, because Bruce, who called himself Jon after a famous kung-fu master, was singing "Oh me-ee, Oh me-ee, Oh!", rather than "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, oh!". 

At almost the end of the period, they were all supposed to have a "free" slow dance. That was horrible. Most of the people kind of had their arm around their partner, as little as they could get away with. All except for Tugger and Kailie. Tugger seemed to have enough self-confidence to let everyone know he _obviously_ had a crush on Kailie, and was taking the "bold" approach.

Ron and Terry, however, had decided that trying to be bold was going to scare Kait and Lily into hiding, and asking to be beaten up severely when they came out. So they were being very considerate and were giving the girls their space, however tiresome they (the guys) found it.


	10. The Plot plot? we have a plot? why wasn'...

Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else. 

We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. Names have been changed to "protect" the not-so-innocent.

Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!

A/N: I wrote this with Jabberwocky, so if you recognize her style of writing, that'll be why.

****

Chapter 10

The weeks passed, and the various students became rather good dancers, if you stopped to think about it and bulldozed past a bit of modesty. Finally, dance class was, for all intents and purposes, over, since it was about a week away from Christmas, which meant that some guys were scrambling to get "dates" for the New Year's Eve Ball. Or the NYEB, as some GATE girls called it. Kailie had found enough mistletoe to cover the whole school, and had somehow covered the ceilings of the hallways with it, leaving only the Great Hall (she couldn't reach the ceiling), the dorms and common rooms (couldn't get access) the teacher's rooms (ditto), small patches of some hallways and all of the classrooms (she ran out of mistletoe). It was quite the uh, interesting experience getting around the school. Most GATE kids (and a large percentage of wizards as well) went around the halls commando-style. (This means that they ran from clear spot to clear spot, and peered around corners before running to another clear spot). Except Tugger and Kailie, who were seen kissing in the halls whenever they had the chance. Dumbledore still hadn't taken any of the GATE kids to get their wands yet. It was making classes a little bit exasperating, although it did test the resourcefulness of the students a bit. Classes that contained GATE kids were definitely interesting, at any rate. For example, instead of utilizing the crystal balls in Divinations (which only worked if you had a wand, and even then were still pretty finicky), they used fortune-telling watches (Ayter had a watch that never lied, he had asked it once, and it said so), and piece-of-crap "magic" 8-balls and fortune-telling erasers and the like. Most of the GATEs had seen how the tea leaves, palm reading and wax-in-water methods worked, but they felt that those forms of fortune telling were actually somewhat laughable. In any case they thought the watches, 8-balls, and erasers were more useful and truthful, because all they could say was yes, no, and maybe (or the equivalent).

Over-active imaginations helped a little as well, although Lily's prediction that the minute everyone got to the bottom of the ladder leading to Divinations they'd be scarred for life was actually based on reality, believe it or not. The prediction came true, mostly because as she'd come in she'd seen Kirk T. and Pansy making out on the floor and had shot up the ladder as fast as she could before she saw anything else mentally and emotionally damaging. Other classmates weren't quite so lucky. Many students (mostly GATEs) spent the rest of the day huddled in corners shuddering.

Other classes, though, still worked technically without a wand. Kait, thinking this might be the case, tried to make Wingardium Leviosa work on a feather, saying the words in her head and concentrating on the feather floating. On opening her eyes after ten minutes of hard thinking, the feather was floating in front of her nose. With practice she got better and faster, and of course, knowing it was possible, all the other GATEs did it too. Wands are just easier, you see, not necessary. Except for Crystal Reading and opening windows. 

During their spare time, many of the GATE kids rampaged about the school, exploring. This revealed several secret passageways that not even the Marauders had known about, and helped them avoid the rabid mistletoe in the hallways. Once Lily found one that led to the various common rooms. She tipped off her friends, and they used it to spy on people (if they were bored), and sneak into common rooms to set up pranks. Once they attacked the Slytherin common room, and the next day the Slytherins woke up to find their common room was painted all over with red, gold, purple, and the occasional obscene picture of, say, Malfoy or Snape. Certain GATE girls high-fived each other and snickered/giggled evilly when they got to the Great Hall. However, the "downside" of these secret passageways was that various wizard boys (guess who) found it difficult to find their crushes to ask them to the Ball. Some GATE kids refused to think of it as a "ball" and referred to it as a "school dance". For example, Lily looked disgusted every time someone mentioned the "ball", and discussed with her friends how she'd probably be the only one wearing pants. Again. Or she was planning on it, but Kait tipped Terry off that bribing girls into wearing dresses had worked before, and maybe it'd work again. Thus, Kait and Terry showed up in front of Lily one day just before the holidays, and offered her 20 galleons so she'd wear a dress. The last person (Jody) had gotten 5 dollars. Lily accepted.

A little later in the day, Airinne was walking down the halls, trying to find someone to rant to. She walked down one hall, and found Draco Malfoy standing there menacingly.

"Will you go to the-" he started, but Airinne cut him off.

"I have a black belt… with a really heavy buckle!" she yelled, going into a karate defensive stance (the kind you see in cheesy kung-fu movies), then running away with her nose in the air. In doing so she almost smacked into Neville.

"Hey, Airinne! I've b-been looking for y-you!" he said.

"You have? Cool!" she answered. Not because she knew Neville, but because she liked being looked for.

"W-willyougototheballwithme?" he asked.

"Okie-day" she said, casually, and walked off. After turning the corner, she realized what had just happened. So she was going to the dance with Neville, eh? OK. That was cool. She found Fiona, and started ranting, but Fiona was sighing and sniffing a rose.

"Ahh, you're getting high!" Airinne exclaimed. Always Miss Subtle.

"Not yet. It'll probably kick in soon. Anyway, I have such a big crush on George now! I found this sweet candle with his pictures all over it, and there was a note saying he loved me! And so I love him now too. He just asked me to the dance," Fiona said.

"Coolies. Candle, eh? Betcha that was Kait's idea… remember last year's?"

"Oh yeah… that Ohad candle was hot, but this year's is better. They move! _And_ the guy loves me!"

"Happy days! I'm going to the ball with Neville."

"Cool! Neville. Wheee - ooh, rose is kicking in now, let's go get high!"

"OK!" and off the two girls went to get very "high". (Note: no one _really_ gets high, they just like to think they do. In reality, they just get extremely hyper.) Off rose scent. By the end of the hour, they were sitting in a corner acting very strangely, and Lily and Siri had joined them.

Kait, at the time the others were getting high, was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, drawing pictures and gabbing with Ginny. She was actually drawing miscellaneous Harry Potter characters, but leaving out definitive items such as scars. Or, in the case of the vast majority of pictures, those of Ron, she just didn't colour them or tell Ginny who they were. However, Ginny left when Ron decided to sit by Kait. Ginny was Ron's favorite sibling, and they'd gotten a lot closer since Ginny started hanging out with, and, since the day dance began (Harry was learning to be quicker about these things), dating his best friend. He had, of course told her about his crush, and asked her what to do. She knew to leave now.

"Hiya, Kait,"

"Hey, Ron" Kait replied, stuffing the pictures under the coffee table.

"So… how's life?"

"It's good…" she was feeling a little weird… Ron was staring at her freakily… he almost touched her, but put his hand down and blushed. That, oddly enough, broke the tension. Kait relaxed.

"What's up, Ron? Got a date for the dance yet?" this was a fairly safe topic, it was all most people were talking about anyway.

"Not… not yet, you?" he was looking at her again…

"Nope."

"Asking anyone?"

"Not planning to."

"What would you do if someone asked you?"

Kait eyed him suspiciously… what was up with Ron…? "Depends on who would ask… anyone you were thinking of?"

"Heh, yeah, actually…"

"Well who? Like, I want a date, of course, but I don't like to get them, it's not worth it unless I'm head-over-heels."

"You don't have a crush on anyone?" Ron was astounded. He had always had a crush on somebody, from the first time he saw his little next-door-neighbour. 

"Nope. I don't have too many crushes. Crush impaired, you see. Quite annoying."

"OK… well I do. And I intend to ask her to the ball."

"Good for you!"

"So, Kait, will you to the ball with me, as, I hope, my girlfriend?"

"WHAT?"

All Ron could do was blink. That's not the sort of question you answer.

"Ron … Ron … I can't … can I think … I'll go to Ginny's dorm … Ron, I'm not ready … if you knew … oh I can't … I couldn't ever do that to him" tears were openly streaming down Kait's face now. She couldn't bear it. She'd been depressed, inwardly, since she'd gone, and left him behind … there were few who knew … Jody did … Jody had been there when they cried together … 

"Kait! Kait, what's wrong, what did I do?" Ron, looked dismayed as he held Kait's shoulders and looked into the face twisted with emotional agony.

"You, Ron? You didn't do anything … I did. I screwed it up for myself. I had eternal happiness in my hands, and when I came here, when I came here I had to let him go … but I can't …" Kait broke free of Ron's grip and ran upstairs to the dorms of the 4th year Gryffindor girls, where she found Ginny and Jody talking in low voices.

"Kait! What's wrong? Did he ask you?" Ginny asked, seeing the grief on her friend's face. Jody just had a look of sad understanding on her face.

"He - he asked … and I can't … oh, Ginny, can you tell him I don't know … Judo, what do I do?" Kait looked pleading, and was using the nickname a great friend of the two had given Jody.

"You're still in love with - with the Other, aren't you?" Jody asked.

"Yes … it was all I could do to leave him, and I can't … I can't … he was the only person I ever loved …" Kait broke down into sobs again. Ginny looked bewildered.

"Ginny … go talk to Ron, I'll help her … she had to leave someone she loved very, very much behind when she came here … and his name's still scrawled all over her heart in black sharpie, isn't it, Kait?" Jody said. Kait nodded. Ginny flew down the stairs to a confused Ron.

"What did I say?" Ron asked his sister.

"Nothing, it's not your fault … she just can't pick between wizard and Muggle at the moment. She'll be down … wizard will prevail, you'll see," Ginny answered.

The brother and sister sat in tense silence, waiting for Kait to appear. Finally, she did, wiping her face of tears. "Alright, Ron, I'll - I'll go to the ball with you. More, more I can't promise you…" Kait still looked very sad and pained.

Ron smiled a dazzling smile at her and charged up the stairs to her. "Thanks, Kait - thanks for giving me a chan - ugh, it's Quidditch time, isn't it? Will you come with me?"

"OK … OK, I will …" Kait offered a smile. Ron bent to kiss her (as he was about 9 inches taller), but she shrunk away. 

"Don't … please don't."

"OK …" and Ron and Kait walked out towards the Quidditch pitch.

On their way out, they passed the girls sniffing happily in the corner.

"Hey! Kait! And… ha, ha! I knew it! I knew it!" Siri laughed loudly. Kait raised her eyebrows. "OK, then, Siri… better cut back on how much rose you're sniffing… and anyway, you're a beater, come on! Quidditch!" "Oh yeah. Since when do you care?"

"Since today, duh."

"Oh, OK." Siri ran ahead, she still had to change. Kait spent the next half-hour shouting happily at the Gryffindor Quidditch team with Ginny on the benches. Fiona came out a little later, to watch George. When Quidditch practice was finally over, Kait, Fiona and Ginny went down to the doors of the Gryffindor change rooms. Kait fell in beside Ron when everyone came out, which earned the two some raised eyebrows. They raised their own back. 

However, the sight of his little brother and twin talking to the people who were obviously their girlfriends, and his little sister simply staring in awe at Harry, Fred was feeling a little left out. He was practically the only person on the team without a girlfriend or boyfriend. The chasers all had boyfriends, but Fred didn't care who they were. The only person on the team other than him who didn't seem to be dating someone was his fellow beater, Siri. Ron was the new keeper, of course. Of course he (Fred) knew who he'd like to date. But for some reason he was kind of intimidated by the younger girl strolling confidently beside him, borrowed broom over her shoulder. He shook his head. He was Fred Weasley, the more outspoken of the two very outspoken twins. And yet, he was the only kid in his family at Hogwarts who wasn't tied up at the moment. And to top it off, he had a crush, _and_ she was walking right beside him. This had to end. He would not stand for it. He stuck out his arm and clothes-lined Siri. She stumbled a bit, and everyone else looked at them. It wasn't every practice the beater clothes-lined his partner-in-beating. A stunned Siri looked at Fred with eyebrows raised.

"Siri, will you be my girlfriend and go to the ball with me?" Fred asked.

"Uhhh," she paused, thinking. "I'll go to the ball with you…"

"Yess!" Fred pumped his fist jubilantly. Siri looked at him funny.

When they actually got inside, all the other girls who hadn't been at the practice showed up, and, naturally they started talking about the dance and their dates. Lily walked by.

"What up?"

"Siri and Fred are going to the dance together," Kait said, she and Siri bright red "and I'm going with Ron. Are you going with Ter - I mean, has anyone asked you yet?"

"Nope. I'm probably going stag. Jody's probably going stag too."

"No, I don't think so… I saw her with what's-his-name, Drake, yeah, and it looked to me like…" 

"Great. This is the second time that's happened. At grade six grad I relied on her to wear pants too, but noo, _she_ had to go and accept a stupid bribe to wear a dress, so I was the only girl wearing pants! And now I rely on her to be like the only other girl going stag, and what does she do? She _GOES AND GETS A DATE!_ Argh! Oh well. I guess I'll just be the only girl going stag."

"OK."  
Lily walked away then, because talk of boyfriends (as well as other mushy, touchy-feely stuff) made her somewhat nauseous. She walked past a seemingly empty hallway, and a hand shot out and grabbed her collar. She was dragged around the corner into that hallway, and was confronted with Terry's red face.

She looked at him inquisitively as she yanked her shirt back into place.

"Watch the shirt, Boot" she warned.

"Yeah. Hi. Look - I actually have a reason for dragging you in here."

"And that would be…?"

"Will you... would you maybe please go to the ball with me?" She shrugged.

"Yeah sure, why not."

"Woo hoo!" he exclaimed, and started kissing Lily, whose knee promptly shot upwards. Terry's eyes crossed and he uttered a sound that can only be described as "gnhi". He crumpled up and lay on the floor in fetal position, clutching his "broken balls".

"What the f*** was that for?? I said I'd go to the stupid dance with you, not be your goddam girlfriend!!!"

Terry gasped for air on the floor.

And with that, she spun on her heel and stalked out of the hallway and back to the other girls, who were still chattering away about how amazingly sweet their dates were. When Lily showed up, they all fell silent.

"Don't stop on _my_ account," she said scathingly. "I'm sure you're all madly head over heels in love and as long as you can yabber on about how absolutely wonderful your 'sweetie' is, the rest of the world can go hang." Her lip curled in disgust.

"Anyway, not that you care, but it looks like I can't go stag anymore. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find something to beat into a soft, mushy pulp."

"I'm not his girlfriend …" Kait whispered, her tears returning.

Christmas Holidays were in full swing when, a few days later, at the single Great Hall table (the Dance wasn't till out-of-school hols ended, on the 31st of December), Dumbledore received a letter. Only a few people heard his gasp when he read it, because most GATE kids were staying, due to the airplane fare. 

When Dumbledore was finished reading his letter, he tapped a surprised Harry (who'd had his arm around Ginny and been laughing hysterically at Siri's antics) on the shoulder and led him to his office.

"Harry, this is from Professor Snape. Voldemort is now active in Canada, and you'll have to start training to fight him off. I'm sorry to put this burden on you, but we need you, you're a very strong wizard, Harry. We'll also be recruiting a fair few of those GATE girls - they're all very ambitious and most have already mastered thought-magic, out of necessity. Of course, Ron and Hermione will be coming and Ginny too - she seems to have a strange connection with Voldemort. We may bring some more people too… when they reveal themselves as remarkable. Fred and George seem wise - while they're all fun and games, they're good wizards…"

"Yes, sir," said Harry.

"Good, good. The training will be long and hard, Harry, you know that? You will be learning very interesting and advanced magic, though. Are you up to it?"

"Yes, sir." Harry's face was set and grim.

"Alright. Go collect the GATE girls at the table, the Weasleys, Draco Malfoy - and Neville."

"Neville, sir?" Harry was a little surprised to hear _Neville's _name called. 

"Yes, Neville."

"Whatever you say, sir." And Harry walked off down the stairs. When he got back into the Great Hall, everyone was laughing so hard at a joke he had trouble getting their attention. It sounded funny, if not coarse - the punch line had been "guano". Whatever the punch line, though, he simply _had_ to get their attention. Eventually he whapped Ron over the head with Hermione's book. It worked.

"What in hell was that for?" Ron asked, indignantly, as Hermione gasped at his horrible language. 

"Come on, help me round up all the GATE girls, your family, Ron, and Neville, and then drag them all up to Dumbledore's office with me!" Harry pleaded.

"OK," Ron and Hermione agreed. The way it worked out, most people told their girlfriend or boyfriend, and Hermione rounded up those without one. The result was that in five minutes they were leaving the Great Hall. Ten minutes after that, Harry whispered the password at the gargoyle, and a few minutes latter they were quietly knocking on the door to Dumbledore's chambers. 

"Sir," said Dumbledore, "or madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; but the fact is, I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, and so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, that I scarce was sure I heard you" -here he opened wide the door; - children there, and nothing more! Siri was laughing, clutching her stomach. "Quoth the hippo, 'Screw you!'" was audible between guffaws. 

"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry, I was napping, you see, and-"

"You were scarcely sure you heard us. We _know_!" said Lily.

"Yes, well, come in. I'll explain everything," Dumbledore explained. All the children, who had finished entreating entrance at his chamber door, bounded into Dumbledore's circular office-type-room-thing. Most of them found a seat, but Fiona and a few other girls were fawning over Fawkes. A few a-hems from Dumbledore brought them reluctantly to their seats. Since Dumbledore didn't quite have enough chairs for everyone to be able to sit down, Lily remained standing and leaned on his desk, upon which Siri was sitting.

"Today at breakfast I received a letter. It was from Professor Snape, who is our undercover agent in Voldemort's forces -"

"We know! We read you talking to him at the end of last year, and we heard you talking to him this year!" squeaked Kait.

"Good. So you know he's in Canada, being a double agent for us. Well, I got that letter from him. It said that Voldemort is gaining his already large hold on the Canadian Government - particularly the new opposition party, the Canadian Alliance. Maybe I should explain how Muggle and Wizard politics interact in Canada, it's different than here. In Canada, the wizards make much more use of Muggle conveniences than we do. They have TVs and microwaves and computers, and toasters and boom boxes and listen to Muggle and Wizard music. Well, the two have the same politicians. In each party there are at least one or two Magical members, and of course, the leader, if he isn't a wizard, knows about wizards and magic. Thus, they can eliminate the need for a minister of magic, though most governments have a Muggle-Proof Magical department. Right now, all the Party Leaders - except Stockwell Day, of course, are wizards. No Canadian Alliance members are wizards, actually. Well, Voldemort decided that he was going to give up on England, because we're prepared and we've beaten him all those times, and go over and try to take over Canada first. So, the natural way was through politics. He was actually the one who convinced that idiotic aspiring Prime Minister, Stockwell Day, to form the Canadian Alliance. Voldemort has been controlling him through the Imperius Curse all this time. Anyway, if the Canadian Alliance ever wins an election…"

"That will be the sound of inevitability," finished Siri. 

"Um, in a word, yes," said Dumbledore, a little confused, never having seen _The Matrix_ before. "And you are here because we need you to go to Canada and help us completely disassemble the Canadian Alliance." 

"Ooh, now _this_ is gonna be _good_" said Kaitlyn, and impish grin forming on her face.

"Of course, we can't just send you now. You have to be trained and taught all sorts of things before we can let you go. I wouldn't normally ask children to do this, but presently there aren't many adults we can trust. You all are the best witches and wizards here, and of course, having the Canadians will help a lot. You'll be sent to Alberta when you're done training - that's where Doris - I mean, Stockwell Day has set up headquarters. Er, where _Voldemort_ has set up headquarters. Only Albertans would vote for Doris - Stockwell!" Dumbledore finished, rather irritated at making such a strange mistake twice. "You'll all have to come up here when morning classes end every day - don't worry, I'll provide lunch."

Training commenced immediately after this little chat, and Dumbledore was surprised (not) to find that the students were progressing at a much faster rate than expected, flying through their advanced courses (Arithmancy, Runes, Herbology, Potions, Charms, and everything in between including History of Magic, which was actually rather interesting, mostly because Binns wasn't teaching it. Dumbledore was). After a while, a (relatively) small group of girls got together and decided to try out a little something on their own.

"We need a book. A book. Books are good."

"Well yeah, but have you seen the library lately? WHICH BOOK?"

"Uhh… see, now, this is what we gotta find out"

"Let's ask Hermione. She'd know"

"She'd tell." By this it becomes evident that the girls do NOT, in fact, have permission to be conducting this particular experiment, but since when has that stopped them?

"True."

"Ummmm…" They thought for a bit.

"Hey, you know we could just tell her it's like for a report in Transfigurations or something."

"True."

"D'you think she'd buy that?"

"Probably only if we told her it was for extra credit." The other girls nodded thoughtfully.

"But, all things considered, yeah I think she'd buy it. Either that or we could bug Amy to get us one." The girls thought about this for a little while, then:

"So shall we go bug Amy then?" Another girl nodded, and they all left the classroom to head for the library.

***

A few hours later, Siri, Airinne, Kait, Fiona, Joy, Lily and Jody were sitting around a table poring over a thick leather-bound book and quietly jotting down notes. After a bit they closed the book, returned it to the shelf on which they'd found it, and went up to the Gryffindor girls' dorm. There was the sound of cauldrons bubbling and pestles grinding things to a soft flaky powder. There was quiet muttering, and also the cheery sound of girls gossiping. There was a hissing noise as the powders were poured into the cauldrons, a soft 'poof!' and then, silence. Which was promptly broken by more silence.

"Well now. I don't think that worked out quite as planned, do you?" said Fiona.

"Hehe, Lily looks like she could star in Cats" Kait giggled.

"Yeah, well you look like you could star in the new Broadway musical 'Bunnies'!" Lily spat.

"Well there's no need to go around biting peoples heads off!" There was more silence.

"So, um, what do we do now?" There was some soft hooting.

"What the- oh. Hey, where's Airinne?" said Lily, who was now at least half black cat. Kait, who was now half human half white rabbit, gestured wordlessly towards one of the beds from which there drifted a gentle snoring. A half human, half grey hawk who looked suspiciously like Siri swept the curtains to the side, revealing an Airinne who was at least half bat hanging upside down from the 'ceiling' of the bed. "Hey, Airinne, wake up!" Airinne shifted slightly, mumbling something about the blood rushing to her head. Lily strode over, stumbled slightly as she was unused to having paws instead of feet, and quietly reached into a bag. Her hand emerged with a brand-new copy of the book _The Vampire Lestat_. She held it out carefully and gently waved it under (above?) Airinne's now rather prominent snout. Airinne's eyes flew open and she grabbed at the book. "Mine!" Lily snatched her hand back split seconds before Airinne's 'claws' touched the book. It fell to the mattress, and Airinne, still trying to snatch the book, lost her grip on the bed and fell face first onto the book. All of this happened so quickly as to be merely a blur in the eyes of a beholder.

"Ow!"

"Sorry Airinne," Lily helped her friend up, which was a little difficult because Airinne was still peering suspiciously at her while clutching the book to her chest.

"Hey, how'd you guys do that?" demanded Jody, who as you could probably guess was only half human at the moment. Her other half was peregrine falcon.

"Do what?" Airinne looked confused.

"That, you know, the reflex thingy" explained Siri. Airinne and Lily still looked confused. Then it looked almost as if lightbulbs had appeared and light up above their heads as they understood.

"Oh! That thing. No idea."

"But um, shouldn't we be wondering more about how we can get fully into one form before we start worrying about faster reflexes?"

"Probably" said Joy, who had now stopped hooting and had settled her half snowy owl, half human form on one of the other beds.

"But how 'bout we pick names first?" The other girls/animals/creatures looked at Siri blankly.

"You know, Black's other form has a different name, sort of like a code name. Why don't we have our own code names?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Okay. Um, mine's gonna be, um" Siri thought for a bit. "Storm!"

"Sounds good. Judes?" Jody (or Judes, as Lily liked to call her) pondered this for a while. "Um, Kellen."

"Jabberwocky" said Kait, causing the others to pause, stare at her for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Jabberwocky." Kait nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright then. Fiona?" Fiona, who had been totally silent up until now, was half human and half lion indicated that she wanted her name to be Nova. Joy and Airinne still undecided, so they then decided to try to figure out how to fully revert back to their human forms. They figured out how to complete the transformation, and discovered that by some odd fluke they could now go partway into the transformation. They didn't have to go all the way from one form to another thus there could be a talking rabbit, or a Joy with really good night vision (for example). If you think about it (which they did) this feature would be excellent for playing pranks on people.

The next day found Hermione gazing at a worn picture of Viktor Krum and sighing while Bart, Bruce and Tarn sang during Charms.

"When the moon's in your eye, like a big pizza-pie…" a handful of GATE's rolled their eyes.

"That's amoré!!!" Approximate translations of different languages are in normal brackets; amoré (love)

"Salut, mon ami."; (Hi, my friend.)

"Bonjour Lily. Comment ça va?" (Hello Lily. How are you?)

"Ça va bien. Et toi?" (I'm good. And you?)

"Ça va bien." (I'm good.)

"Ça c'est bon." (That is good.)

"Oui." (Yes.)

Lily nodded contemplatively, then asked, "So, what's up?"

"Nothing much. Oh, Herm's busy drooling over some pic of Krum."

"Really?" Lily's eyebrows rose. This was interesting. The sentry posted at the door called out a warning.

"Incoming!" Everyone promptly hunched over their books and looked like they were working hard as Flitwick strode into the room, tripping over robes that looked to be a few sizes too big. Lily and Kailie snickered quietly to themselves, exchanging a tiny high five under the table at Flitwick's troubled expression.

"Is there something wrong, professor?" asked Kailie. Lily ducked her head in an attempt to hide a smile.

"What? Oh, no. No, I'm quite alright." Flitwick answered distractedly.

"Are you sure? I mean, you look a lot smaller than you did yesterday," said Lily, her face innocent. Flitwick cried out in anguish.

"I knew it! I knew it!"

"Knew what?" his students looked puzzled.

"I'm shrinking!" he shrieked. He promptly ran out of the room, screaming something unintelligible.

In the meantime, Harry and Ron were busy learning lovely new spells and ways to defend themselves, when…

**__**

"I'M SHRINKING!!!" Professor Flitwick ran into the room, screaming hysterically.

Later, in detention:

"I can't believe Kirk would fink on us to McGonagall like that!"

"You can't???" Lily asked incredulously.

"Okay, well actually I _can_, but still!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." They stopped talking for a while, concentrating on polishing the (it seemed like, at the very least) thousands of trophies in the trophy room. Lily started muttering to herself, her voice becoming a little louder and more passionate until Malfoy, walking past the door on his way to class, heard these words:

"…And I will have my revenge, in this life or the next!" He heard applause, and then hurried on, for fear that, a) he'd be late for class, and b) that she might be referring to him. In reality, she was quoting a speech by General Maximus Decimus Meridius of the Roman army in the movie _Gladiator_. It was also in reference to Kirk and Professor McGonagall.

"But how?" mused Kailie. There was a thoughtful pause, and then,

"I've got it!"

"What!?"

"Okay, here's what we'll do…" Lily's voice trailed off as she whispered the plan into Kailie's ear. Kailie's eyes widened as she listened attentively.

"It's brilliant!" They snickered evilly, and then set about refining the details as they polished the trophies.

***

December 24th 2001, a day which will live in infamy. Or not. At any rate, Lily and Siri were innocently wandering aimlessly around the school when Alex Gurdenhaus, a GATE student, rushed up to them with a carefully gift-wrapped box in his hands. "Here, give this to Kait for me." And off he went. Siri was left holding the box awkwardly, and they glanced back over their shoulders at Alex's retreating form. They looked back at each other and said, in perfect unison, "Not good." A few moments later they were cautiously presenting the package to Kaitlyn.

"A gift."

"From Alex." At this Kait turned pale with dismay.

"Are you sure? I mean, shouldn't he be over me by now…?"

"Apparently not, Kait."

"He ran up to us and said, 'Here, give this to Kait for me,' and, uh, yeah." At this point Ron walked up. "Who's that from?" he asked innocently.

"Alex Turd-enhaus. He's got it bad for poor Kait here." Kait just stared in dismay at the box in her hands.

"What?" asked Ron furiously.

"Alex Gurdenhaus is madly in love with poor Kait, and has been giving her presents since last Christmas," Lily explained. Ron looked furiously angry (also incredibly jealous) at that and rushed off, presumably to beat the living snot out of Alex. The girls watched him storm off. After a moment Kait shoved the box at Lily, saying simply, "Here, you open it."

A/N: Muchos gracias to everyone who reviewed (all eight of you)!!! Ok, coming up in like the next chapter (or maybe in the one after it, I don't remember) is the Yule Ball, and I _think_ it may still be in the works. Or something. We'll figure it out eventually. Acknowledgements! (yes, I know some people haven't actually reviewed since like chapter two or three, but oh well)

me: GATE stands for Gifted And Talented Education. However, as we (we being everyone who knows anyone involved with the stupid program) all know, just because one is gifted, does NOT, I repeat, NOT, make them intelligent! Or smart or whatever.

Odd no-name person: you didn't leave a name!!! I mean, come ON, the least you could've done is put something like "blank" or "N/A"… ANYWAY! *salutes* sir! (or ma'am) yes, sir! (or ma'am) updates coming soon to a theatre near you! ;) (or not…)

Moving right along… 

Mara456: glad you liked it. It came out of our own twisted minds (well, the Obi-wan and Yoda thing came out of Ravenclaw's, but that's ok. You probably don't care about that…), which shows you almost EXACTLY how crazed we are. I could be wrong though.

Krysta: hey, I know someone named krysta! You're probably not her, but still… I is glad that you enjoyed the trip into La-La Land. ;)

(notice these are all personalized and involve some stuff noone really cares about?)

Midknight Strike: yay, you reviewed! (no kidding!) very… uh… verbose, ain't ya? j/k. *hugz*

Lil Loki Puck: do I really need to say anything? You've reviewed… what, four times so far? As "Bruce" would say, "mucho, mucho!"

Sophie W: dude! Another GATE kid! Which school're you going to, and can I come beat on the freaks who want to get rid of the program? After all, lunatics are people too! Also, our nice teacher had to leave for the rest of the year, so then we got an evil teacher who doesn't know very much about, well, anything.

(has anybody else noticed that this story hasn't gotten any flames so far? *starts crying* you like us! You really like us! *pregnant silence filled only with the sound of crickets "singing"* ok, I'll shut up… soon. I promise!)

Kittycat: I've noticed most people think WSLE is weird. You among them. And yes, I know it's weird. The best part is, there really isn't a plot! Oh well. We're working on that part, trust us! *shifty eyes*

Thanx again to everyone who reviewed, and yes, we ARE, in fact, working on adding a plot. If anyone gets any ideas, please include them in a review (if it's a flame, then you can say something like "your story sux! Delete it!" Ravenwolf, at least, doesn't mind flames).

Please please please please PLEASE review!!!

PLEASE?


	11. The Ball, The Day After, And A Mysteriou...

**__**

When Science Labs Explode

By Kaitlyn Gainstein and Lily Macleod

Disclaimer: we do not own or claim to own pretty much anything that can be seen to be unoriginal. If what you recognize is from a fanfic, then don't blame us, it's not in here intentionally.

A/N: Once again, many thanx to all who reviewed.  
Also, to those of u who read and did not review:  
Shame on you! Even if u hate my story, u should at least review and tell me so! Especially if you can tell me how to improve it.  
And if anybody has any ultra-special plot ideas, could you please send them in? Jabberwocky and I are being attacked by a vicious case of writer's block.

****

Chapter 11

The night of the ball found the girls all in Fiona's dorm getting ready. Lily picked up her skirt (the closest she would ever get to wearing an actual dress, as has been stated before, she had an intense aversion to wearing a dress or even something that simply resembled a dress) and top and walked into the bathroom to get changed. The make-up had been hauled out of the bathroom and the girls were helping each other put it on. 

Ginny, in robes of deep, emerald green, solid and long-sleeved, with gold Ivy jewelry, and makeup done in warm browns, because she was so obviously an Autumn, looked like Persephone or Demeter in her prime. Her hair was held up by two or three rings of some gold-ish substance (OK, it was golden thread with stiffening charms and gold leaf charms made by Kait on the spot, who adored such things) that seemed to have ivy leaves sprouting from them, like Ginny's necklace and arm band.

Fiona came out draped in loose white robes, that swished along the floor and had no sleeves whatsoever. Her hair was left down, and had been painstakingly curled by Kait and her growing store of self-made aesthetic charms. Upon her head sat a silver tiara, which was really costume jewelry disguised, but no one had to know that. Her evening bag was in the shape of a silver apple. Coiling up her arms she had silver bands, and two on each ring finger. Her arms had shiny paint on them, so when the light hit them properly, they looked gleaming white. Her eye shadow and most makeup was silver, and her pink lipstick had a silver cast. The whole ensemble gave Fiona a queenly air about her, and the silver-blue, sparkling gossamer shawl she wore added to the regal effect. Her face was glowing with youth and vigor.

Siri looked rather rough-and-tumble, as if she'd just been climbing around somewhere (or rolling in grass), and smelt accordingly. Aside from the strategically placed leaf or so in her hair, which was charmed to have more volume than any one person should be allowed and tousled in keeping with the outdoorsiness of her outfit. Her dress was a changeful green, like the leaves in a wooded glen, and strategic lipstick and eye shadow, as well as a well practiced smirk and glimmer to her eyes, gave her an otherworldly, mischievous look about her.

Ariadne was draped in somber black, in robes almost exactly like the normal Hogwarts fare. They were, however, a little more tailored to Adne's tall and thin frame, and had cutouts along the edge of the sleeves. If you looked closely, the cutouts were of little skulls, which is unnerving if you think about it. Upon her head she also wore a tiara, this of a savage sort, all spikes and strange twistings. Her hair was entwined with the tiara. Her lipstick was of a deep and striking red, and her only jewelry was a pendant in the shape of a pomegranate. 

Jody was next. Austere, crisp white robes - reminiscent of those of some sort of cleric, made up her garment. With non-existent makeup and a pendant in the shape of an open book crossed with shield, spear and sword, she looked a little tight-laced. Her hair was, as much as possible, also piled on her head - over and around a headpiece oddly like the crest on a battle helm.

When Kait had finally gotten around to letting the others preen her, she looked in the mirror to someone she'd never seen before. Her hair was left flowing in soft curls (which weren't normally there …) to her shoulders, as she'd neglected to keep it properly trimmed. It had been brushed so much it really did shine like the sun (considering her hair was already golden-blonde, it's not _that_ much of a stretch), and charmed to stay that way. They'd charmed the skin on her face so it stayed fresh and new, as if she'd just scrubbed it for half an hour, and because she'd already found ways the rid all the girls of any blemish problems they might've had (through vigorous medi-magical cleaning), she looked like Clean and Clear's poster child for one night (well, everyone did, it was just more of a shock to Kait as she stared at her reflection). The seeming everlasting scrubbing also made her look like she was blushing to death. Or that might've been because she was. She had an oddly low cut (for Kait) set of dress robes, which had a loose, sleeveless top, and a large, glittering-pink rose belt. Then, the dress flared over her hips and trailed to the floor, fading from white at her shoulders to rose at the hem.

All the girls looked stunningly lovely in their various gowns, with their make-up applied in such a way as to bring out their most attractive features (eyes, lips, etc.). The bathroom door opened slightly and Lily called out, "Fiona, could you c'mere and help me with this?" 

"Bien sûr, mon ami." (Sure thing, my friend.) 

"Ah, tais-toi, Fiona!" (Oh, shut up, Fiona!) Fiona laughed and entered the bathroom. A few minutes later, Fiona exited the bathroom and said simply, "I have created my masterpiece. BEHOLD!" 

Lily stepped out of the bathroom, her dark hair brushed to a silky sheen and streaked lightly with cinnamon brown. She was wearing a black wrap-around skirt decorated with gold/tan dragons, a hunter green shirt with a faint gold design on it, and a stone that, from the colours, might have pewter shot through with rust, hung suspended from her neck by a silvery chain. She wore black eye-liner and deep twilight purple-y-blue eye-shadow accented the darkness of her eyes. Kailie looked up then and her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and she pointed at Lily as she exclaimed, "Omigod, omigod, omigod, omigod!" Lily looked slightly confused.

"What? What? Oh, come on, I don't look _that_ bad, do I?"

"No, you look good!" Lily grinned at her friends.

"Okay, are we ready to go?"

The various dates were all hanging around the entrance to the Great Hall, having found that their dates/girlfriends wanted it that way and weren't going to be swayed in their decision in the slightest. So they hung around and talked amongst themselves about various topics (like Quidditch, their dates, etc.) as the minutes dragged on. And finally the girls appeared around the corner, talking and laughing as they made emerged from behind a tapestry. They spotted the guys and strode towards their respective dates. Well, most of them did, but Hermione, who was going stag, hung back from the throng, feeling somewhat sorry for herself since she didn't have a date and they did. Sensing something was wrong, Lily and Siri turned back to their friend. "C'mon Herm, what's holding you up?"

"Oh, nothing." The other girls looked incredulous.

"No, really, I'm fine. You guys go on ahead." Lily and Siri glanced at each other. "Well, actually, Hermione, we've got a surprise for you. Come on, we'll introduce you."

"Oh, you guys!"

"Come _ON_, Hermione! Quit being such a wet blanket and _LIVE A LITTLE!!!_" Hermione laughed slightly at Lily's vehemence, and finally agreed. With the two younger girls tugging on her arms she approached the group cautiously. She passed Kailie and Jason necking under a sprig of mistletoe and sighed inwardly, sort of wishing that it was her and Krum instead. And they stopped. "Hermione Granger, it is my honor to present you your date…" began Lily formally.

"…Viktor Krum, the Quidditch star!" finished Siri triumphantly. Hermione's mouth dropped open as her friends stepped back with a sweeping gesture towards, who else?, Viktor Krum. He smiled at her and held his arms out to her as he said, "Herm-oh-ninny! You are even more beautiful than I remembered!" And even as she blushed furiously to the tips of her ears, she rushed into his arms and hugged him.

"Krum! I missed you so much!"

"And I you, Herm-oh-ninny." The rest of the group cheered as they watched the couple under the mistletoe for a minute. Lily glanced up suddenly as she saw Terry and Fred walk towards her and Siri with weird looks on their faces. Seeing they were underneath a huge clump of mistletoe, she quickly grabbed Siri's arm and hauled her to safety.

"Ow, what the hell was that for Lily???" Lily said nothing in reply, just pointed up at the ceiling. Siri, following the gesture, immediately spotted the clump. "Oh."

"Yeah, '_oh_'."

"Thanks, Lily."

"No problemo."

"Well, I guess we'd better get in eh?" suggested Kait.

"I guess."

"Jeez, Lily, you sound like you're about to walk through the gates of hell instead of just the entrance to the Great Hall." Lily muttered something in reply.

"What did you say?" asked Fiona.

"Nothing," Lily quickly replied.

"No, I definitely heard you say something…" urged Airinne.

"Alright already! God, all I said was, 'for all you know it could be'! Happy?"

"Happy enough," was Siri's reply.

"Look, let's just get this over with, 'kay?" with that she grabbed Terry's wrist and dragged him through the doors. Her friends shrugged and did roughly the same thing. Kait and Ron lingered in the hallway, waiting for the crowd to die. As they began to walk into the Great Hall, they stopped dead when the doors were flung open. Kait froze when she saw just who was opening the door. A boy, who looked like a 6th year, was shaking snow out of brown hair, and looking around him out of blue eyes. And Kait turned on her heel and ran upstairs, sobbing all the way. Ron looked from Kait to the boy, who looked very confused himself. 

"Who on earth was that?" he asked, too shocked to realize he was talking to _the_ Ronald Weasley.

"Kaitlyn… she was going to the ball with me… I don't know what happened…" Ron sounded about half as confused as he was.

"Kaitlyn … Kaitlyn what …?" the boy got a pensive, chilled look on his face. There's gotta be a million Kaitlyns out there, it's not her.

"Gainstein. Who are you? Why do you care?" then Ron realized the boy had frozen in his tracks too.

"It's her… I can't believe I found her again…" he stood, shocked, for a second, and then ran up the stairs after her. Ron followed catching up to him.

"Now just who do you think you are? Why are you dashing after my date to the Yule ball as if you have some right to go dashing off after her! If tonight goes well, she'll be my girlfriend!" Ron spoke angrily, wondering what on earth he'd just missed. The boy stopped in his tracks.

"Your girlfriend? She's your date? But she… she wouldn't… but she… who are you, anyway?" the boy said, mirroring Kait's look of pain a few weeks earlier. 

"Ron Weasley. And I asked the same thing of you, kid, what are you doing here?"

"Dumbledore conducted a magic-scout in Ireland, I was identified and brought here. So Kait's a witch? A real witch, like Hermione? And it's all-it's all real?"

"Yes! Of course it's real. Now why are you charging around after my date like some knight in shining armor? You keep away from Kait, you hear me?"

"Knight in shining armor… I can't, sorry, Ron, but I can't. I've got to get her back. Do you know the password to get into this thing? I think it's a common room…"

Ron hadn't realized it, but they'd followed Kait to the Ravenclaw portal.

"Underthemistletoe, those annoying Ravenclaw prefects make up the stupidest passwords," said Ron, as the portal opened. They could here loud sobs from there. They walked into the common room, at first seeing nothing. Then they spotted Kait, sitting on the floor at the far end of the room, in front of the fire, crying her eyes out. Both boys went rushing towards her. When Ron got near, he hesitated, remembering how she'd shrunk from him before. This Irish-person-seemed to have no such qualms, and threw his arms around her.

"Is it really you? I thought-I thought you'd hate me for leaving…" she choked out.

"Yes… yes, it's me, and I'll never hate you… when I said 'the rest of my life', I meant it… I never thought I'd see you… never talk to you again…" the kid was sobbing into her hair now. "How did you know it was me?" he asked, as an afterthought.

"I just saw you, and I got the-the melt-y feeling again, and I knew it was you… love before sight…"

"I still… I never stopped… I missed you so much…" and as the two people-one Ron thought was going to be his girlfriend in short order, and one who had just waltzed in the door-leaned closer together, tears shining in both pairs of blue eyes, Ron slammed the door and walked out.

A couple seconds later, Kait realized what had just happened. "Ron…" she stood up. "Well, I guess-you wanna go down to the ball? I'm really sorry about Ron… I thought you wouldn't want me to mope… I still loved you, the whole time, but they all said I should move on… so I said I'd go to the ball… but I couldn't be his girlfriend… I love you…"

"I know… I know, I love you too, it's alright… shall we go to this ball, then?"

Ron was sitting with Harry and Ginny at a table.

"And then-this kid had just walked in! See all those uncomfortable looking Irish people? He came with them! And then Kait saw him, froze, and ran upstairs! Just like that! And he muttered something about 'it can't be her' when I told him her name, and off he blots after her! Why must my girl have had a past? I swear they did, cause when we found her, they were looking at each other in 'that way', and I left just before I swear they kissed…" Here, however, Ron was interrupted, as, with an unusually loud creak, the doors to the hall opened. And in walked Kait. And beside her walked a kid no one had ever seen before, except Ron, whose fists clenched and teeth gritted. But Harry, looking over the two, noticed both looked happier than anyone else in the room. Especially Kait, who, Harry'd thought, looked a little sad for her whole stay up to this point at the castle.

"You! You! It's YOU!" Jody screamed, dragging Drake across the room to where Kait and her mysterious friend stood in the center of the room.

"Judo?"

"It is you! Little early, aren't you?"

Ron looked at the small crowd gathering around the two-his lost love and her rediscovered one. He pushed his way through the girls, finally getting to meet this Alan they'd heard so much about, finally coming out of the small crowd just in front of the two.

"What, sir, do you think you are doing?" He asked, in clipped tones, red to the ears and about to breathe fire. Alan took a step forward.

"Ron! You shut the flub up right now!" Kait said, eyes flashing angrily. "You don't know what that was like. You never had to leave someone you love more than life itself. You're a guy! You probably have about ten other girls on your list!"

Ron just stared angrily at Kait. Alan started to pull her away, out to the dance floor, even if he said he couldn't dance, it was better than an all out tizzy. Ron, still fuming, went off a-questing for another girl to spend his time with. Between flirting with Lisa Turpin and glaring idly at Kait and Alan twirling on the dance floor oblivious to the world, he almost didn't notice Judo laughing in a corner inside a semi-circle of her friends, who were all talking to Drake.

Surprisingly enough, they seemed to be getting on well. This was definitely a good sign for Judo, who'd never liked anyone her friends approved of.

When the slow song (which Jody had been _trying_ to dance to) ended, the lead singer of Magiband, the group Dumbledore had hired for the dance, came forward. 

"Hi all," the bleached-blond twenty-something man said. "Dumbledore mentioned, when he hired us, that the number of Muggleborn and Muggle-raised students in fourth year and up has about doubled this year, 'cause of all o' them Irish and Canadian kids. Well, we do a lot of touring in North America, and over there's a lot more Muggle and Magical musical integration, so I decided to bring my huge (and no, I'm not kidding) Muggle music collection. So what you all have to do is come up and request your fave songs, Muggle or Magical. 'Til then, how 'bout some seventies' 'I Will Survive'?" He turned back to some turntable-like things back in the dark recesses of the stage, and a moment later, "I Will Survive" came blasting out of what seemed to be the walls. The large circle of GATE kids somewhere near the center of the floor began screaming, singing, and otherwise making a great ruckus.

"_At first I was afraid; I was petrified, kept thinking I could never live without you by my side…_" the chorus of kids began, moving to the beat of the music in the dimly-lit hall. Several minutes later, the slightly hoarse crowd ended with "_I've got all my life to live, I've got all my love to give, and I'll survive; I will survive, I will survive!_" Kait slipped away to the stage to make a few (about five) requests with Kailie, who screamed and ran back to the center stage when the lead singer told her something.

"Okay guys, one of our fans, a Muggleborn, owled us with a suggestion for a remake of an eighties Muggle song. Here's our lead female singer, Clistia, with 'Hey Harry'. Harry, never mind the song, it was just a huge lot of fun to write…. Great to be playin' for ya, though!" The drummer struck up and a few guitarists joined in as Clistia moved to center stage. After bobbing her head to the music for a few bars, she began to sing;

"Oh, Harry, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Harry! Hey Harry!" she continued with her new version of "Hey Mickey", replacing 'Mickey' with 'Harry'. Harry blushed furiously throughout the entire performance, as did Ginny, his date for the evening. They had been pushed to the middle of the circle, where most of the GATE girls tried to sing along to the new version. When it ended, the first few bars of a slightly unfamiliar (and very old) tune came from the stage. Parvati, Padma, Lavender, and most of the other girls screeched and hauled their dates out for a slow dance, so all the GATEs and Irish kids shrugged, and dragged their own dates (or the closest alternative thereof). There was only one perplexed-looking GATE boy standing to one side, next to a horde of single witches who were watching him out of the corners of their eyes. Sabin just stood there and scratched his head (or he would've, if he hadn't been worried about wrecking the gel in his hair), wondering why he wasn't dancing. 

"_Blue moon, you saw me standing alone; without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own._"

Sabin was the GATE girls' favorite guy, and normally at dances he danced with most of them at least once. But this time all the GATE girls had dates that they seemed to be interested in. It was then that he realized that there were lots more guys than girls generally, and that the only reason that he'd always had someone to dance with before was because not many of the girls had had boyfriends that they could go to dances with. At least previously, anyway. So he watched as each of his normal partners swayed in the arms of other guys, some closer to their respective dates than others. For instance, Airinne was dancing with Neville, and as they were trying to keep from stepping on each others' feet, there was a fair amount of space between them. However, Kait and Alan were dancing so close that if they'd been any closer, they'd have been dancing back to back, through each other. This observation made, Sabin came to the conclusion that he should probably snag a free witch just then, and make sure to get a dance with one or two of his friends for the next slow dances. He wandered in front of the witches a couple times, trying be unobtrusive. He finally stepped in front a curly blonde girl, but by this time the song had ended, so he didn't have to dance with a complete stranger after all. He promptly turned around and shot back to his friends, where he promptly tugged his hoodie on and over his knees, thus becoming… The Whatchamadingle! He then began attacking a group of GATE girls, who promptly poked him back, which caused him to say, "Ah! I've been pokethed!". 

To cover holes in the music, another Muggle slow song slipped out. Kait and Alan remained in the same position, with Kait singing along enthusiastically. As yet another Muggle song blasted, the band set up again to the shrieks of various GATE kids. Mostly Airinne, but that's beside the point. Kait screamed and hopped up and down, while Lily began head-banging. The first few lines of the tune rose (sort of) over the deafening din of hoarse voices shouting along; "_Hangin' out behind the club on the weekend, acting stupid, getting' drunk with my best friends…_" When the punk rock ended, the band began a song with an ultimately different theme.

"_Did anyone ever tell you_

That the way you look at me

Is just drawing me to you

The way Enthrallment has to be

Flying over lakes and trees,

Wishing you were here

On my Firebolt or Ceres,

Oh, don't you know I care?

I see the sunrise in your eyes,

I see the night sky too,

And I see the fireflies…

What charm do you use?

Flying over lakes and trees,

Wishing you were with me

On my Firebolt or Ceres,

Oh, don't you know I care?

When I was just a little kid,

A student in my prime,

And from your sunny eyes I hid

And giggled in this rhyme

Flying over lakes and trees,

Wishing you were with me

On my Firebolt or Ceres,

Oh, don't you know I care?

Did you ever see…

No, you never did, did you?

Did you ever see…?

Can it be true?

You never did see, did you?

Can this be… can it be…

Can it be true love

What I feel for you, baby…

In all my classes, grades were lost

When in Charms I sat and though

My lovely marks, they were the cost

So I nearly failed the year, never remembered what'd been taught."

Apparently, they'd written it themselves, and it was a pretty good song, all things considered.

After the main dancing thing had gotten boring, not to mention boiling hot, Jody turned to Drake and asked, "Do you want to go out to the garden?"

"Yeah, yeah, that'd be great…" the couple walked out of some hidden French doors in an alcove, into the garden, and down a convenient moonlit path, lit by the occasional fairy.

Meanwhile: a little chat is transpiring between Kailie, and her date, Jason (the Rum Tum Tugger guy). They're in the middle of a good long snog-session, when Jason breaks it off.

"You know… I've been thinking…"

"Hmmm?" inquired Kailie, lazily drifting out of the cloudiness snogging with Jason had left in her mind.

"I really, really, really like you… sod it, I love you." Jason said, getting an uncharacteristic softness in his dazzling blue eyes.

"I love you too…" Kailie began, but Jason cut her off. "I'm going to ask you something… explain it to you. You're really too young to be asked this, and I'm too young to ask, I guess… but I can't let this chance slip away…"

"What are you talking about?" Kailie asked. As much as she seemed to love Jason, this was a conversation she hadn't envisioned having for quite some time.

"I'm not… I'm not a h-human. I haven't told anyone else this, Kailie… but I'm not… I'm… well…."

"Vampires aren't as bad as they make us out to be…"

"What?" asked Kailie, a look of shock and intrigue crossing her features.

"I'm a… a vampire… but let me explain! I can't let it ruin my life. I can't let it push me to the night… we're not vicious… we just need blood to survive… the number of people killed by Vampires hasn't decreased at all, actually, no matter what the ministry says…"

"Jason, you're rambling," Kailie said, pointedly.

"You're right… well… I've put a lot of charms on. I can survive in sun and garlic can't kill me unless I want it to. Why else would I stink so much of magic?"

"I think it's a nice smell…" said Kailie.

"It gets overbearing. Back to the point, while I can survive as a normal wizard, I still need blood every so often. Well, actually, a Vampire only needs to make one kill in their first 25 years to survive. And that's only Born-Vampires. Made-Vampires don't need to kill anyone - they used to have blood, rather than magic, flowing in their veins. I need to have one kill in the next ten years, or I'm as good as dead."

"Most Vamps kill more than one person… most don't find the right one to kill till after they've killed their first. That's why lots of people are still killed by Vamps… numbers stay about the same.

"There's always a right person to kill… for us, you don't really die… you're just not human anymore. Victims become Vamps themselves…"

"And, blood is really powerful… it's something about it… maybe because it's so alive and Vamps aren't alive… but it really turns us on…"

"And I think I'm one of the very few guys who find the girl they wanna kill so quickly. Kailie, can I kill you?"

Kailie, a little shocked, looked around. The moon looked so beautiful, she could hear giggling from all sides, and she could practically feel the youth. She was sitting on the verge of immortality, what had she got to lose?

In answer to Jason's inquiry, she pulled her hair back from her neck, and looked up expectantly. Jason smiled at her, bent his head, and the next thing she felt was a searing, delightful pain. Then everything went black. Jason gathered the limp figure of his deathmate, his first kill, into his arms, and carried her up to his dorm where he could tend her wound. Such bites were definitely not a thing for Madam Pomfrey.

From the hedge separating two alcoves in the garden terrace, a faint giggling could be heard.

"George, what are you doing?"

"Playing it by ear"

"Are you sure you should have your hands there?"

"No, I've never done this before!"

"Me either… is it such a good idea?"

"Well don't you want to? It was your idea!"

"Well yeah… Ooohh, George, OK, but you know-stop it for a second or I won't be able to finish and I'll get-"

"OK, finish then!"

"Shouldn't we… like… get a room or something?"

"But they'll all see my…"

"So we'll run."

"Where to?"

"Your… oh, oh, oh, give me that!" There followed a male snicker. Please note that there's a large shrubbery between you and the unfolding scene.

"Oh, if you must go fully clothed, come on, then."

Two disheveled figures came streaking out of the bushes and ran around the shrubbery and through the terrace, out around the greenhouses and through a side door. Still running up the stairs to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room, where the password "Moon River" was whispered urgently. Inside the common room, which was thankfully empty, they almost didn't make it up to George's dorm. When finally they got to the stairs, George almost broke Fiona's back by kissing her rather harshly and pressing her into the stairs. Fiona didn't mind.

They finally did, however, make it up to bed.

Below, on the dance floor, couples were revolving to What a Wonderful World. Lily was giggling madly in a corner, being kissed with abandon by Terry. Apparently, the punch had been spiked with a little of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey.

Kait and Alan, swirling to the tune, stopped, when, from what must've been floors above, a large thump was heard.

Lily giggled. "I bet I know what that is!"

"What?" asked Terry, detaching himself from her neck for a minute.

"Fiona and George, lying in a…" she broke into out of character giggles, flushed from the punch and Terry.

Terry turned back to her neck, not caring much what Fiona and George did in their spare time. Lily giggled as he moved his hands where he'd normally be killed for touching her (only her hips and waist and arms and face, folks), and she took another long swig from her punch glass.

Meanwhile, Stephanie and her date Ian were 'hiding' behind a bookcase in the library. 'Strange' noises emerged from behind this very bookcase, and, because evidently there was something rather odd about the punch, or the night, that was seriously affecting teenage hormones, we will now leave them to their, uh, business.

The next morning, a flushed Fiona came late to breakfast.

"Guys… it's 12 inches!"

"WHAT?" all the assembled girls exclaimed.

"12 inches! Really!"

"And you would know this…?" Lily prompted, through her hangover and embarrassment at all the thick makeup on her neck (although she'd spent hours trying to get rid of them this morning, there didn't appear to be a way to get rid of a few hickies with magic, to Lily's chagrin).

"Well… I'm… We…"

"Oh. My. God", said Ariadne, who'd also left the dance early with her tall, gangly, dark Slytherin boyfriend, but only to go to the far side of the lake. "Fiona's not a-"

"No, I'm not, OK? And it really, really hurt. Like, it was damned fun, but… well, ouch,"

"So what, you didn't use protection???" asked Kait, incredulous.

"Of course we did! George had a spell."

"Where'd he get that?" asked Siri, who was mildly curious. She'd been playing pranks on the fairies all night, with a couple snog sessions when Fred could get a kiss in edgewise (she, too, had had a little too much punch).

"He said from Lee,"

"So that's why you didn't come back to the dorm last night," Kait said knowingly. She'd come back in around one, after saying goodnight to Alan at the bottom of the stairs for half an hour. If it had been anyone but Kait … well, it was Kait, so there was no need to go into the possibilities.

Just at that moment, George burst into the great hall. Getting giggles from the girls and a number of pats on the back, he came and kissed Fiona confidently.

She evidently didn't know how one should act towards the guy who... Forget it. Suffice it to say that she herself felt great, if not a little sore.

"F*** this headache!" Lily swore. Terry walked over to enfold her in his arms. "You stay the f*** away from me! This is all your fault!"

Terry looked dejected. "My fault?! Well… I guess it was… but you didn't put up much of a fight!"

"Yeah, well, I was f***in' drunk!"

"You're the one who got the d*** punch in the first place!" snapped Terry, finally losing his temper.

"You're the one who got the d*** punch in the first place!" she mimicked. They stood there fuming at each other for a moment, then Terry muttered something to the effect of "Well, if you're going to be like that" and stalked off. Lily snorted in derision and went to class.

Later in the day:

A small white rabbit was seen hopping down the hallways towards the Great Hall. It appeared to be looking for something (or someone). It stopped every once in a while, rose up on its hind legs and sniffed the air a bit, then dropped down and began hopping again. Alan, seeing the (apparently) lost bunny roaming the halls, knelt in front of it and said "Hey there, cutie. What're you doing out here?" At this the rabbit looked up at him for a moment, then reared up and kissed him full on the lips.

"What the-"

"KAIT! There you are!" A black cat skidded around the corner and slid to a stop as it realized there was a human present.

"Oh shit. Uh... Meow?" It looked innocently up at Alan. Then it looked at the rabbit in front of him. It looked, in as much as a cat can, exasperated. It shook its head, spun around and raced off. When it had disappeared from sight, Lily's voice came from around the corner.

"Nice going, Kait! Now you've scarred him for life!" Lily sighed exasperatedly.

"Look, I gotta run, but do you promise that you won't do that anymore?" To his surprise, the rabbit began speaking… and in Kait's voice!

"Oh, come on Lily! He's my _boyfriend_, for heaven's sake!"

"Yeah, so what's your point? You kissed him _as a rabbit_!" Alan listened to the whole thing with his jaw down so far as to nearly touch the floor. (^_~)

"Um. 'Scuse me. I'd rather you didn't talk about me as if I wasn't here" he said.

There was a long pause.

"Kait." Lily sounded about ready to kill someone.

"Yes?" Another pause. Lily sighed.

"Oh, screw that. Alan, get your Irish ass over here. Oh, and bring Jabberwocky, please." Alan did as requested. Jabberwocky could only be the bunny - he didn't see anyone else in that hall (though he looked, quite confused). Just before he turned the corner, he heard Lily say "Just follow the cat. Amrei knows where to go." He turned the corner and there was no sign of anybody else, just a single black cat sitting in the middle of the hallway. He blinked. "So, are you Amrei then?" The cat looked at him. Then got up and dashed down the hallway a few yards, stopped, turned to see if he was following, then came back. It looked rather impatient. "Oh, for the love of-" It indicated that he should follow, and set off again. The cat led him up hallways, down hallways, and even through secret passages on a path that twisted and turned fit to break a snake's back, always pausing once in a while to make sure that he was following. Amrei paused at a corner, checked to make sure he was still following, then started forward… straight into Terry's shins. "Ow! Hey, watch where you're going, you stupid- whoops. I mean, uh… Meow" Terry looked blankly at the small black cat at his feet. "Hey, where's your owner, little one?" Lily growled inwardly, frustrated by the delay. Alan rushed up, closely followed by a small white rabbit. "Alan? This cat yours?" Terry asked.

"No, actually I'm, uh, just returning her to her owner. I found her wandering the halls." Terry nodded thoughtfully, then moved aside to let the other boy pass. Just as Alan was walking past though, he reached out an arm and stopped him. The older boy looked at him questioningly. Terry sighed nervously and ran his hand through his hair. "Look, if you see Lily, will you tell her I'm sorry?" Alan looked surprised, and, unbeknownst to the boys, the cat below looked surprised, and also deeply touched. Alan nodded, and Terry released his arm and continued on his way. Alan looked down at the cat, who was watching Terry leave. "Well, how much further?" Amrei growled at him irritatedly, then dashed on down the hall. Half an hour later, Alan was nowhere to be seen and there was a bald eagle flying around the hidden chamber. The eagle disappeared to be replaced by Alan.

"Hey cool!" Everything had been explained to him, and he was now also an animagus.

***

Days passed and those concerned grew used to the routine of breakfast, training, lunch, classes, dinner, and HOMEWORK, ALWAYS HOMEWORK!!! Ahem. ANYWAY, Amy, Siri, Airinne, Fiona, Lily and Kait were down in the dungeons one day, working on a project for Advanced Potions when there was a huge explosion, bigger than all the ones before it, from the dungeons, which blew out all of the doors and windows leading into the Potions classroom. The next few minutes saw professors and students rushing towards the potions room, not expecting the worst, but expecting SOMETHING on the bad side, at any rate. What they found was not anywhere near what they expected.

Terry, Fred, George, Ron, Alan, and Professor Dumbledore made it first, having been closer than everyone else. They watched as the smoke cleared, revealing books, pencils, and paper strewn about the room. There was no sign of the six girls.

"They can't have just disappeared. People don't just _disappear_" Alan said, in complete denial.

"Of course they do - not off the face of the earth, but maybe the cauldron or something they put in was a portkey," Terry reasoned, normally the levelheaded one.

"Yes, that is quite possible, Mr. Boot - I might even go as far to say probable," Dumbledore said, thoughtfully stroking his beard.

"Well where did it take them, then? There aren't random portkeys all over Hogwarts - or at least, not that clear in a poof of smoke in the potions dungeon. What were they doing down there, anyway?" Fred asked, quite disgruntled at the prospect of having a disappearing girlfriend.

"Didn't Amy say something about an extra-credit assignment?" George said - in strict truth, it was Fiona who'd been told about the assignment, but George had, of course, heard. 

"But where are they? They've got to be somewhere! Even among wizards, someone has never just ceased to exist completely. Even dead people exist! Have you tried to find them, Professor?" Ron was flying into a big fit.

"Yes, Ron, of course we have, with no results. There are tests I'm not allowed to perform myself, and because the girls don't show up on any magimaps, I think we should get them done." Dumbledore said, still stroking that darned beard of his.

"Well how do we get them done, then?!" Alan was even more distressed than Ron, and though the other boys were less open about it, all of them were floundering in worry and doubt inwardly.

"We must call in the Ministry. I have already owled the Department of Missing Witches and Wizards, they should arrive right about... now"

As Dumbledore finished this sentence, a whole brigade (or three) of Aurors apparated in with a *pop*.

A/N: *ominous music plays* What happened in the Potions lab? Where did the girls go? What happens next?  
The only way to save Lily, Kait, Airinne, Amy, Siri, and Fiona from uncertain death is to review!!!

*laughs maniacally*

Tune in next week for the next chapter! Same bat time, same bat channel!


	12. Changed

Disclaimer: No, we don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts, The Canadian Alliance, or anything else you may recognize as being un-original.

A/N: I, Ravenwolf, would like to thank everyone who reviewed the past chapters, and would also like to ask that all you other people reading this leave reviews. Especially ones with constructive criticism, or advice on how to make this story better.

****

Chapter 12

Three weeks later, Ron and Harry were serving detention in the Potions classroom when a breeze blew up from out of nowhere, swirling around the classroom for a moment before it came across the spot where the girls had been right before their disappearance. It began to spin around faster and faster until it was almost as if a tornado had been transported to the middle of the room. A small black hole opened up in the fabric of the space-time continuum, and small streamers of light swirled out of it and into the dust storm surrounding it. There was a sudden blinding flash of light, and then the wind disappeared. When the boys could see again (which took a few minutes), where the portal had been were now standing six seventeen-year-old girls, all dressed strangely, and vaguely reminding the boys of the missing girls.

The one who reminded them of Lily was wearing a sleeveless hunter green tunic (revealing the many thin white scars that marched up and down her arms), brown leather boots, and buckskin leggings. A sword was strapped to her hip, as well as a long-ish dagger. She had two tattoos circling her upper arms, one was of ivy leaves and the other of flames. Both tattoos looked eerily realistic. There was a feral quality about her, and the easy confidence with which she held herself gave the impression that she could handle anything you threw at her, especially if it was in a fight.

The one who reminded them of Airinne had the kind of hairstyle that you only get by sticking your finger into an electrical socket, very big goggles over her eyes, and was wearing a large leather apron that consisted of about 99% pockets, all of which were bulging with tools of all sorts, and the look on her face was of scientific curiosity, as though she wanted to know exactly how everything worked and then put it into some sort of invention.

The girl that looked like Kait was wearing floor-length white robes, bound with a simple rope-belt to which was attached several fat pouches, and she was holding a staff in her hand that radiated arcane power. Her hair was a bit longer than Kait's had been, and she wasn't wearing any glasses, but otherwise she looked exactly the same, only older. There was an air of mystery and quiet confidence about her, which will not be explained in further detail because she's supposed to have an air of mystery about her. End of story. :P

The-girl-who-looked-like-Amy's hair was rather longer than it had been when she'd disappeared, and she was also wearing a robe, which was also simple in design, although Amy's robe was made of some sort of interesting shimmery fabric. She was carrying a bag full of scrolls over her shoulder, and had a sort of scrutinizing look about her, as though she wanted to know everything there was to know about everything. She, also, wore no glasses.

Siri (or rather, the girl who forcefully reminded Ron and Harry of Siri), had her considerably longer hair done up in a ponytail that started at the top of her head. Her clothes were of various bright colours that clashed when put together. Loudly. She had a short sword strapped to her waist, and a large number of bulging pouches were draped about her slender figure, there were tiny wrinkles (laugh-lines) about her eyes and mouth, and she had a look about her of cheerful curiosity.

Fiona (or rather, the girl who LOOKED like- you get the idea) was wearing a long flowing gown and looked very dignified and sophisticated.

They all had a look of confidence about them; they knew what they're strengths and weaknesses were and knew the limits to their strengths. By the way they stood closely together, Ron and Harry could see that these girls had complete trust in the abilities of their companions. Ron chose that moment to completely ruin the drama of the moment by saying, "Who are you?" and peering suspiciously at them. The girls stepped forward and introduced themselves, each of them possessing strange accents that were totally unfamiliar to the two boys.

"I am Fiona Merenda" said the-chick-who-looked-like-Fiona proudly.

"My name's Siri Everly," and she stuck her deeply tanned hand out, a friendly smile on her face.

"Amy Kairs, of the Order of Aesthetics," Amy bowed slightly.

"Hi,mynameisAirinneMerchellofMt.Nevermind. Pleasedtomeetyou!" Harry and Ron stared at her blankly, at which she sighed and repeated her introduction, only slower.

"I'm Kaitlyn Gainstein."

"Lily Macleod." This confused Harry and Ron - they were sorry, but no one grows three years in three weeks. End of story. There wasn't even any magic that could do this, so far as they knew. They must be different people with strangely similar names... maybe ancestors brought back from the depths of time or something equally dramatic sounding.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ron Weasley, and this is Harry Potter," they shook hands with the cheerful Siri. The girls looked slightly surprised at this and looked closer at Ron and Harry.

"_You're_ Ron and Harry?" Ron wondered if he should be offended at the incredulity on their faces. So did Harry.

"Yes."

"How long have we been gone?!" Fiona demanded.

"About three weeks." Harry decided not to mention the fact that they couldn't be the girls who had gone missing, he was too confused to register any more confusion or disbelief.

"Three _WEEKS_?!" More incredulity and disbelief.

"Yes."

"That would explain it then."

"Nokidding."

Harry and Ron decided they'd blow off their detentions, as Snape was nowhere in sight, and escort the returned girls to Dumbledore's office, which the whole school had been told to do three weeks earlier, give or take a few hours. The girls were rather surprised at the sight of all the Aurors patrolling the halls. Now, Ron and Harry had taken on the attitude of "weirder things have happened" and were steadfastly not worrying about things they couldn't even try to explain.

"Has Hogwarts been invaded?"

"No, those are Aurors. They came here about five minutes after you left, and have been here ever since." When in doubt, tell all the truth you can.

"Why?"

"Well, because we thought you'd been kidnapped by Death Eaters." The girls looked amused. Snape spotted walked by on his way to his classroom.

"Potter! Weasley! What are you doing out of detention? Twenty points from Gryffindor!"

"Begging your pardon, sir, but these two gentlemen were merely escorting us to the Headmaster's office."

"Who are YOU?"

"I'm Fiona, and this is Siri, Airinne, Amy, Kait and Lily. I'm told we've been missing for three weeks." Snape gaped at the girls for a few minutes, then said, "Oh. Nevermind then. Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, you are excused from your detention. Carry on," and promptly swept off, leaving everybody to stare at his retreating figure blankly. They continued on and some time later passed the Great Hall, through the doorway of which they saw lots and lots of sleeping bags on the floor in the various house colours.

"And I suppose that you've been sleeping in the Great Hall for the same reason that the Aurors have been swarming Hogwarts?"

"Yes, that's exactly it!" The girls looked amused again, but this time there was a bit of concern behind it. The rest of the trip to Dumbledore's office was uneventful, and so was the visit there. Unless you included the part about how Lily stood the whole time at the window gazing longingly at the shadowy green of the forest, or the other part in which Lily began humming a sweet, haunting melody with Fawkes coming in strong on the chorus.

"You may want to leave your things here for safe-keeping." 

The girls turned and peered at the headmaster suspiciously, but there was something about him that convinced them that nothing untoward would happen to the prized possessions, so they complied. Siri left nearly all of her pouches on his desk, and Lily left her axe and several daggers that had been cleverly concealed about her person. Amy left her bag of scrolls, and Airinne left the larger number of tools from her apron. Lily paused in the act of setting down a dagger, then pulled various pouches and vials from where they had been hidden, telling Dumbledore not to touch them, because they were very powerful poisons. Kait left many of her own pouches on the desk. Seeing that that was all the girls (who now merely looked like they were sixteen) were willing to part with at the moment, he had let them leave and hadn't pushed them about any of their other possessions.

Just before leaving, Kait turned back with her Staff. "Keep this for me, will you? Thanks. I don't want it to get broken or anything. Um - just, make sure you don't touch it. I don't know if it'd hurt you, but this other Mage I met had the Staff of Magius and I think it burns people or something when anyone else touches it. I never let anyone touch mine cause for all I know they could be blown to bits. I'll just put it in this corner, then, and be off." She laid her staff to rest in one corner beside an armoire, and a small glow emanating from the crystal affixed to the top of the staff faded gradually as Kait left the room.

There were several joyful reunions that evening when Fred, George, Terry and Alan learned that their respective loves had returned. Or rather, there would have been if the girls didn't look so different. Alan and Kait were still insanely happy and they both cried at their reunion. George was overjoyed at the sight of Fiona, and had hugged her and kissed her repeatedly, only to notice a certain sorrow about her, and also that she wasn't returning his hugs and kisses, and Terry had noticed (and done) the same with Lily. Fred and Siri had grinned at each other and immediately begun planning pranks, with the help of Airinne, who had obtained an expertise about machinery of all sorts in her absence from Hogwarts. Amy had simply wandered off in the general direction of the Library.

The next day found the girls back at the physical age of fourteen, and Kait refusing to wear the black Hogwarts robes.

"But they're black! I can't wear black!"

"Why not? It's not like you look absolutely horrible in it!"

"That's got nothing to do with it! I just can't wear black! I tried putting them on and looked in the mirror – I look funny! It makes my skin go crawly…" Finally the other girls gave up and let her wear her white robes. Lily had disappeared (again), but was found some time later at the fringes of the Forbidden Forest, munching happily on what looked like dried meat and fruit, and also wearing the same outfit as the day before. When it was suggested that maybe she should put her sword away and change into robes, she had snarled warningly, and had fingered the hilt of the sword almost absently, her threat hanging in the air. But, in the end, she had left the sword in Dumbledore's office (although she still kept around half-a-dozen or more daggers hidden in her clothing). 

A/N: Holy reappearing acts, Batman!  
Yes, they're back, and they're armed and dangerous.

Leave reviews!

Please?


	13. Complete Strangers

Disclaimer: you know the drill. No, we don't own half the stuff we write about. Or with, come to think of it.

All the students who had been selected for special training were up in Dumbledore's office, watching a middle-aged fellow in Auror's robes pace the floor. Finally he turned to face them.

"I suppose you're all wondering why you've been summoned here today," he said. Lily yawned and settled herself more comfortably on the floor.

"We have received intelligence that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has decided to continue his plans for world domination from Canada. We have discovered a camp of Death Eaters situated in the Canadian Rocky Mountains." Ron raised his hand.

"Um, aren't all mountains rocky?"

"No, Ron, some are just glorified hills. Besides, the Rocky Mountains is the name of an actual mountain range in North America."

"Oh."

"Because we technically aren't supposed to be acknowledging the existence of You-Know-Who, we do not have clearance to dispatch a contingent of Aurors to Canada to clear out this Death Eater Youth camp." Here he was interrupted.

"Death Eater Youth? And here I was thinking he'd think up something original."

"This man had the entire wizarding world terrified of him and his Death Eaters!" Lily snorted derisively.

"Insolent wretch!" Here the Auror moved to strike Lily, only to find himself lying flat on his back with her foot firmly planted in his stomach. His gaze traveled up 30 inches of razor-sharp steel to her face; her expression was cold while her eyes blazed fiercely.

"Take care, little man. You don't want me as your enemy." Her voice was dangerously soft. Then she lifted the sword away from his throat and sat back down, ignoring the awed expressions of the other students. The Auror rose and readjusted his robes indignantly.

"Lily … you're embarrassing the locals." Kait hissed. Beside her, Siri had hid her face behind her hand and was looking the other way. Lily just looked oddly at them.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" She glanced up at him for a moment, then set her sword over her crossed knees.

"No. I have absolutely no idea who you are. For all I know, you could be the most powerful man on this planet."

"Well, I'm not. I am General Sipla, Chief of Defense for the Ministry of Magic."

"We're sorry, general. Lily will shut up now. She's just a little weird right now or something, but she'll be good now, really!" Siri said this, smiling innocently. Kait and Airinne were unobtrusively sitting on Lily, who was snarling and struggling a bit. Siri quietly put her hand on Lily's shoulder, softly saying "relax, let Lily have the body". Lily (whose face had been sharp, old, and distinctly feline while threatening the General) blinked and calmed down rapidly, her face softening and seeming to get younger. The General nodded.

"I'm glad to hear it. You, my friends, will be trained as Aurors. This will take work, it will take dedication. You will become the Few, the Proud, the Noble Defenders of the Wizarding World. You will be all that stands between us and total annihilation!" He paused, to a lot of worried looks and very scattered applause. "Erm … sorry to have to put this on you kids. But your classes will be integrated with your new Auror training, you'll just have that."

He paused. The students looked at him.

"We've brought in a new teacher for you. Mr. Moody is the most informed man about World Affairs and MagiWar that the Commonwealth has to offer. Tomorrow, you'll be meeting him. Now, I suggest you all get some rest."

The class dazedly looked out the windows, realizing that, indeed, it was after dark, stars were shining bright, and the moon was alarmingly high in the sky. The trundled off to bed, rather startled that the day had gone by quite so quickly. "Well, it is a magic castle" someone pointed out, and after that everyone took it for granted that there was some reason this day really didn't seem to have the whole 24 hours in it.

A/N: Please ignore all loose ends (we know there's a lot of them) – the explanations will appear in the chapters to come. If you decide you don't want to bother waiting for us to write them in, you can e-mail us (muggleborn@hotmail.com or midknight_22@hotmail.com) for them.


	14. Training Day

**_When Science Labs Explode_**

By Kaitlyn Gainstein and Lily Macleod

__

Disclaimer: you know the drill.  No, we don't own half the stuff we write about.  Or with, come to think of it.

Chapter 14 

The next day, rubbing their eyes and yawning, the kids showed up to their South Tower classroom. Slowly and lethargically, they walked in – but some of them stopped dead a few steps into the door. The girls. Most of the boys continued through, not really paying much attention to the pile up. The fact was, most of the girls (and Ashley - who had some wicked magical talent for all that he was incredibly feminine – and Alan) were simply in awe of one of the teachers. They searched their minds – Moody and Atizoe, right? And Moody, everyone knew Moody, and this was most assuredly _not_ Mad-Eye Moody. Atizoe then. That, however, was where all cognizant thought gave way to mindless goop. Finally, they realized if they didn't move the puddle of drool would drown the entire classroom, so they tried to get control of themselves and find seats, giggling amongst themselves. Kait and Alan made their way to adjacent desks, both dazed.

They all managed to make it through the period. Professors Moody and Atizoe explained that there were two facets to the new training; one was physical, which would be done outdoors, while the other was intellectual (accompanied by emotional and mental conditioning) and would take place indoors.  Moody was to deal mostly with the intellectual parts, and Atizoe would deal with the physical aspects. However, they were going to team-teach and, usually, both would be present during all classes. The morning was for physical activity, the afternoon for intellectual stimulation. They were all to meet on the Quidditch Pitch at six o'clock sharp, showered, breakfasted, and in 'gym strip', which made all of the GATEs felt very much more at home now, carrying a bundle including a pair of HOGWARTS ATHLETICS shorts and a HOGWARTS ATHLETICS T-shirt, both with a stylized phoenix. They were also told not worry about freezing as the Pitch would be charmed to about 12° Celsius and once they got moving that would definitely be warm enough. At nine they would be showered again, dressed in uniforms and off to class, with a bran muffin (and maybe some bacon) to replace some energy. After that, they would have their normal classes, and directly after school they would have the intellectual training until 5:30, when they would go to their common room and finish up any homework – however, they would try to get some of that taken off. Also, if they wished, they could eat lunch in the South Tower, so they could rest and have some fun away from the crowded and extremely loud Great Hall. 

And finally, the class was over. Boys walked talking casually out of the class, and girls flooded out, giggling and making comments like "Atizoe can physically condition me _any time!"_

Kait and Alan were hanging back, Alan having drawn her away from the crowd. 

"Look – I've got something I've just realized and I have to say it or I'll feel really bad. I think I might be, well … gay … I just walked into that classroom and Atizoe and … wow."

"It's OK. He's enough to turn the straightest of the straight right around the bend. Do you want to – "

"Break up?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Well … OK. See you around, I guess" and with that, she kissed him on the nose and ran off to walk with Lily, Airinne, Kailie, Fiona, and the other girls, looking a mix between pensive, sad, and like she'd heard the funniest joke in her life.

*           *           *

The following morning everyone in special training showed up at the Quidditch pitch on time, wearing the 'gym strip', and shivering slightly in the brisk/cool winter air.  Ron tried repeatedly to get close to Kait, who was chatting with her friends and feeling rather powerful because whenever she went to pat one of them on the arm or head they cowered in fear.  This same occurrence rather puzzled most everyone else, who watched in confused awe as Lily cowered away from Kait, her arms thrown protectively over her head – after all, they _had seen her beat the living snot out of Crabbe and Goyle, the Hogwarts Heavyweight Champions (if Hogwarts had had wrestling, which it didn't)._

"Hi Ron!"  She went to lightly pat him on the back and instead hit him so hard she knocked all the air out his lungs.

"Merlin!"  Ron gasped for air.

"Ohmigoodness Ron, I'm so sorry are you okay?" the words spilled out so fast they tripped over one another and ended up in a dog-pile shortly after leaving her mouth.  Someone snickered.

"Hey, now he really is 'Wheezy'!"

"That was horrible.  You should be ashamed of yourself for making such a bad joke!"

"I know, I'm sorry.  I just couldn't help it."

Atizoe showed up a moment later, shirtless, and looking 'dang' near edible.  Some of the girls giggled and poked each other at the sight of his six-pack.

"Before we start, we're going to do some of what Professor Snape calls 'silly wand-waving'.  So get out your wands-"

[Siri/Kait/Lily] raised her hand tentatively.

"Yes?"

"Um… we actually don't have any wands."

"What?"

"Yeah, um, we never got to go get them, or anything, so…"

Atizoe looked aggravated.

"And no one thought to mention this before"

"Well, it hadn't been a problem so far.  That and this whole training thing is mostly just conditioning right now.  We didn't know we actually had to have wands for it."

"I see.  Well, I guess today we can just improve your flying skills and then after you'll just have to go get yourselves some wands."

"Um…"

"What is it now?"

"We actually weren't taught the whole flying-on-broomsticks thing yet, either."  The girl looked sheepish.

"Siri figured it out on her own (I think) – she got on the Quidditch team somehow, anyway – but she's the only one of us" she gestured to herself and all the other GATE girls, "who did."

"You're kidding"

"No, sorry."

He sighed.

"All right, we'll just have to start from scratch."

He flicked his wand and a large number of brooms exploded out of the broomshed and rocketed over to where the students stood – narrowly avoiding a few collisions in the process.

"Alright – everybody grab a broom.  Those of you who have flown before, come with me, and everybody else stays here with Moody."  


	15. The HastilySlappedTogether Ending Yes, ...

**_When Science Labs Explode_**

By Kaitlyn Gainstein and Lily Macleod

__

Disclaimer: you know the drill.  No, we don't own half the stuff we write about.  Or with, come to think of it.

Chapter 15 

Needless to say, Harry had his showdown with Voldemort.  Before he could meet up with his archenemy, though, he spent at least a week (maybe three) wandering around the Canadian Rocky Mountains with the other kids chosen for the Order of the Phoenix.  There was a good deal of bickering, and some snide remarks about how the GATE kids fought like old married couples, but in the end they all reached the Death Eaters' camp and crashed the "party".  Then all the students were magically (duh) transported back onto Hogwarts grounds, where they arrived just in time to be crushed by the weight of all the homework in their backpacks (which would have imploded to become black holes had there been one more assignment) and the horrifying thought of final exams.

Meanwhile:

The wind whistled ominously through the trees, tall and black against the cloudy sky.  Below, in a clearing, surrounded by the blasted ruins of the Death Eater camp, stood Lord Voldemort, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, accompanied by a shrinking, sniveling creature that could only be called human because of a lack of hair and/or a tail.  Voldemort coldly eyed the rubble with his slanted, snake-like eyes.  Wormtail (who else would it be?) turned to his lord and master, a miserable expression on his thin, wasted face.

"What do we do now, master?"

Voldemort bent and carefully lifted Nagini, absently stroking the snake's smooth scales.

"What will we do next year?"

"The same thing we do every year Wormtail.  Try to destroy Harry Potter!"

A break in the clouds sent a brief flash of moonlight flickering dramatically over the scene as dark storm clouds began gathering around the Dark Lord.


	16. Author's Note The end needs an explanat...

Okay, so here is an author's note to explain to all of you the Amazing Slap- dash Ending.  
  
I'm sick to death of this story (so is Jabberwocky, I think) and I want to work on other stories. Once I am sure that creativity won't run away screaming in horror when I so much as think about this story, I will finish it and/or edit it to make it better. Until then, you can either give me special feedback about improving the story or you can wait for other stories to appear. The first new one in god only knows how long is up - on fictionpress. There may eventually be another one up on fanfic, who knows? Until then, please don't berate me for the crap ending. I know it sucks and comes as a complete surprise. But it has been THREE very LONG and TEDIOUS years.  
  
Thank you, and have a nice day.  
  
--Ravenwolf 


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